


Taking "Soulmates" To a Whole New Level (old)

by idkwatoputhere



Series: Taking "Soulmates" (Old version) [1]
Category: Cartoon Therapy (Web Series), Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, College!Deceit, College!Emile, College!Logan, College!Patton, College!Remus, College!Remy, College!Roman, Fluff and Angst, Ghost!Virgil, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Multi, Soulmark AU, Soulmate AU, Sympathetic Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Sympathetic Deceit Sanders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:02:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 20
Words: 25,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23928844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idkwatoputhere/pseuds/idkwatoputhere
Summary: Virgil lives a quiet life in his three bedroom apartment, secluded and alone, until three annoying? somewhat attractive, soulmates move in, and of course, he hides, keeps himself out of sight, because he knows that if he's seen by anyone other than Dee, they are going to move out, out of fear, and for some unknown reason, he really wants them to stay. But that doesn't stop him from making a few mistakesBeing Rewritten
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil/Creativity | Roman/Logic | Logan/Morality | Patton, Anxiety | Virgil/Creativity | Roman/Logic | Logan/Morality | Patton/Deceit Sanders, Dr. Emile Picani/Sleep | Remy Sanders, Platonic Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders/Sleep | Remy Sanders
Series: Taking "Soulmates" (Old version) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1771747
Comments: 204
Kudos: 336





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw:  
> Robbery, Guns, Major Character Death

It was dark, and I was walking alone, headed home after another late shift. I worked at a small 24 hour convenience store, and found myself, continuously, working the graveyard shift again, it was happening way too often in my opinion, but I needed the extra money then. I walked quickly, speeding down the sidewalk, it felt like something awful was going to happen, but I was probably just being paranoid, I hoped I was just being paranoid. 

Everything felt off as I walked the streets that I knew by heart, and walked passed every day coming home from work. It was too loud, but also way too quiet. It felt like a sign from above that something was wrong, I wish I had listened. 

I wasn’t in a hurry that day, despite how I was acting, so I ducked into a cafe I knew well and ordered a small muffin and some tea to get my mind off the strange feeling I had about going home. I waited quietly for my order, and ate quietly. The people here always made the best muffins, and were always so nice. After I ate, I quietly continued home.

I lived in a three bedroom apartment on the west side of New York City. I had two roommates who moved out recently, one moved in with his soulmate, and the other moved back home to help his sister with her new baby, so I was currently going through the process of getting new roommates, and working triple time to afford rent. My mind wandered as I made my way home, when would I get new roommates and have to stop working like triple my usual hours? What would these new people be like? Were they going to like me? Oh god, they were going to hate me!

I wandered up the empty staircase to my apartment. When I got to my place, I could tell something was off, my door was unlocked. I never leave my door unlocked, it makes me anxious, and my anxiety causes me to make sure that I lock the door, so I know that I didn’t just forget. I cautiously walked in.  
“Hello?” I ask quietly as I walk in. I got no response as I cautiously looked around the apartment. I started looking around the living room, and was unable to see things that seemed off, and didn't find any people.

I then checked the kitchen next, and I saw some cups that I had thought I had put away, but that shouldn’t have been any cause of worry, I could have simply forgotten to put them away. What I did see that caused worry was the fact that my microwave door was hanging open, there was no possible way that I would have left the door open. If I was smarter I would have called the police right then and there, but I kept on moving. 

I checked the bathroom next, nothing seemed too off in there, but I barely gave it a glance, what would anyone want to steal from a bathroom?

I walked into one of the empty rooms, where one of my roommates used to sleep, just to see if there was anyone in there. Nobody was, so I left.

I then walked in the room and looked around, I didn’t see anything off, and was about to leave when I felt a hand wrap around my neck and felt something poke my back. I cried out and dropped my tea before having a hand put over my mouth. An unsettling voice boomed from behind me.

“You and I are going to sit here and be quiet while my buddies do their work. Right?” I felt the thing poking my back push a little harder, swallowed, and nodded.

The other people there made quick work of taking anything relatively valuable that wouldn’t be too large to be carried by one person, my computer, my wallet, my phone, etc… The hand on my throat never left and neither did the thing poking my back, which I had begun to suspect being a gun. 

The people seemed to be done and satisfied, I assumed that they would let me go and run, I was wrong. Everyone except the guy holding onto me left, leaving a very confused me, and the guy basically choking me, alone.

“Say goodbye, kid,” I heard from behind me, and panic began to fill my body. I screamed and fought, but I couldn’t get away. I heard a loud boom and felt great pain in my abdomen at the same time, it was clear, he had shot me. He let me go and I fell to the floor, he shot me a few more times, and ran, leaving me bleeding out on the floor.

Everything hurt, and I was screaming. I heard my neighbors banging on the door, but there was no way I would be able to get to the door, I hoped they tried the door and found that the door was unlocked. Darkness was seeping into my vision as I felt my blood seeping out of my wounds and into the floorboards. I vaguely remember hearing a male screaming for someone to call 911, and saw figures in the corner or my eye, ‘I guess they did make it in,’ was the last thing I remember thinking before the world went dark, and I was alone.

I woke up, and felt as light as air, was I alive? Did I make it? I took some time to look around me, expecting to see a hospital, but instead, I saw my apartment, and nobody was there. Was it all a dream? The pain felt so real. I looked around, and saw the way the apartment had been torn apart in the robbery. Then I looked down. The first thing I saw was the blood, and the tape on the door, police tape, then I noticed the fact that I was a solid two feet off the ground. Then I saw my transparent body, and knew that I had not survived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so this isn't the best, and it doesn't really explain anything, but it will come in the next chapter, this is just some sort of thing to keep me from actually going insane


	2. Chapter 2

In this world, you are born with a “soulmark” somewhere on your body, and when you meet your soulmate, that mark would begin to shift from black to another color while glowing and heating up, pretty much assuring you knew when you met them. At first, it was believed that a person could only have one soulmate, but studies showed it was possible and somewhat likely to have more than one soulmate, romantic or otherwise.

I was one of those lucky people to have multiple soulmates, four, to be exact. But we’ll talk about that later, let's just get introductions out of the way first. My name is Patton Kardiá, and I was a freshman in college.

I met one of my soulmates in freshman year of high school because we had homeroom together. His name is Roman Prince. Roman is a very dramatic theater geek, who is always there to sweep me off my feet. He is an absolute sweetheart who is about two steps away from being a Disney prince. A true hero.

I met another one of my soulmates at my job at the small cafe that I worked at, his name is Logan Berry. He ordered a black coffee, and we got to talking. He is a lovable dork, and a huge ‘nerd,’ as Roman would call him. He loves astronomy, and science in general, and none of us were surprised when he chose an education major.

I hadn’t met my other two soulmates, but I was sure they were going to be just as lovable.

After high school, Roman, Logan, and I decided to move in with each other, since we all ended up going to college together anyways. We went apartment hunting to see if we could find a three bedroom apartment within our budget, it took us a while, but we did find one. It was a quaint little apartment, it was a three bed, one bath, apartment that came with a kitchen, and was settled near our college. At first, we were surprised that nobody was taking the deal, seeing as it was such a cheap place, in such a good area, then we learned why it was so cheap. A man around our age was robbed and murdered there some years ago, and the people who moved in after him, said strange things were happening and moved away as soon as their lease ran out, claiming the place was haunted. 

Even after learning that, and pushing my fears down, we decided that we should give the place a try, for even if it were to be hypothetically haunted, it was too perfect to give up.

We went to go see the apartment ourselves, and loved the place, and ended up moving into the place, and at first, everything was normal.

Logan took the room farthest from the door, because he wanted to have a bit more quiet, and Roman took the one closest to the door, because he would need to leave on a whim for rehearsals, auditions, and callbacks. That left me with the middle room. The room was nice, not too large, but not tiny either. There was a small closet, and I had my dresser. I set my desk and bed up in opposite corners, and worked inward from there.

After a few weeks, though, things started getting a bit strange, I would feel strange chills sometimes, and things would be moved. But that could all be random, and me forgetting things, it wasn’t like I was hearing noises or anything. I complained about the chills to Logan and Roman, and Logan suggested that I get a heater, so I did, and it worked for the most part. Things also stopped moving around randomly, so I assumed it was just me being forgetful So none of us thought there would be a problem with us staying there for a long time, everything seemed so perfect.

As for college, I was an education major, Logan was also an education major, and Roman was a theater major. Me and Logan had some classes together, but I didn’t really have any with Roman, which was kinda sad. After going to college, we made some new friends, Remy, a crazy, insomniac, coffee addict, music major, and his soulmate, Emile, the sweet, cartoon enthusiast, psychology major. They were fairly different, but they were also well suited for each other. Then there was Remy’s platonic soulmate, and Roman’s brother, Remus. Remus was chaotic to say the least, he didn’t really have a filter, but that was ok, it didn’t make him not somewhat fun to be around,even if he did get into a bit of trouble. Remy and him made great platonic soulmates. 

Remus keeps on going on about this other guy that he’s friends with , talking about how fun he is, but we’ve never actually met him. What we know about him is that his name is deceit, his father owns the apartment complex he lives in, and he totally believes in ghosts. Roman also believes in ghosts, I think he was somewhat hoping that our place was haunted, but he would never admit it. 

Everything seemed perfect until one night, when my fears were seemingly confirmed, and something amazing happened. It was an early, and I mean like three a.m. early, Thursday morning. I woke up and was going to go to the kitchen to get some water, when I got the feeling of someone watching me, I turned around just in time to see a man about my age, floating, and transparent, disappear into thin air. I didn’t get a good look at him, but it scared me and I ran frantically and started banging on Roman’s door.

Roman groggily opened the door, “Patt? Are you ok? What's going on?”

“ROMAN! I JUST SAW A GHOST!”

“Did yo- WAIT WHAT?”

“IT WAS IN MY ROOM, IT DISAPPEARED WHEN I LOOKED AT IT!”

Logan then tiredly entered the hallway, “What are you guys yelling about? You should be asleep,” he stated, matter-of-factly.

“Patton saw a ghost in his room, Logan!” Roman cried. 

“Preposterous, we all know that ghosts are nothing but horror stories,” Logan said calmly.

“Maybe I was just seeing things, or dreaming, or something, it just felt real…” I admitted, my voice dying out, “but I would still feel better if we all slept together for the rest of the night, preferably not in my room.”

“Of course, Patton, why don’t we all stay in my room for the night?” Roman quickly asks.

“I wouldn’t be opposed to it, I suppose,” Logan agreed.

We all spent the night cuddling in Romans king sized bed, Roman and Logan on the outside, and me in the middle, I couldn’t imagine feeling more safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you like the fluff, well hold onto it while it lasts


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idek what im doing at his point lol

People moved into Virgil's apartment. I was surprised at first, when my father told me. Nobody stayed there after the incident with the people who moved into the place after Virgil died. I was still in high school when he died, I remember my dad coming into our apartment stating that one of its tenants had died, he was heart broken. My father and Virgil were friendly, not really friends, but they were close, as far as tenants and landlords go.

I remember a few days after he moved in, my father came in and talked about how kind he seemed, after dealing with a problem with his key. My father said he wasn’t loud, or brash, and blamed himself completely for what happened, unlike most, who would automatically blame his father, looking for someone to blame. My father had nothing but kind things to say about him. 

I also remember his funeral. It was sad, some old friends, neighbors, his old roommates, and my family came. His family didn’t come because ‘it's too expensive to fly out to New York only for that brat.’ I was extremely mad when I discovered what they said, but as a teen there wasn’t much I could do. 

I also remember the first time I saw Virgil in his apartment.

_I was helping clear it out after the incident, and after everything that was wanted by friends, as he stated that he wanted his friends to split his possessions however they wanted if he died young, but didn’t want anything to go to his family, I was looking through whatever was left when I felt a chill from behind me, and a warmth on my chest, and then I turned around, and saw him. Virgil was a fairly attractive, young college student. He had an emo style, and his hair had been dyed purple. He was floating above the ground, giving me a strange look, then I noticed how my chest was glowing. I was confused for a bit, but then the realization hit me like a truck. He was my soulmate, the ghost who floated in front of me was my soulmate, my soulmate died. He wasn’t the only one, but he was dead._

_I pushed the feelings down, and stood. “Hello, you can call me Dee, and who might you be?” I asked, more confidently than I had felt._

_“My-my name was? I guess… Virgil,” he quietly said, sounding about as confident as I felt._

_“Virgil? Well it's a pleasure to meet you, but it is quite the surprise, seeing as I attended your funeral a few weeks ago,” I replied, trying to keep my confident front up, to hide the fact that I wanted to cry. Virgil didn’t deserve what those horrible people did to him._

_He looked at me, confused for a second, but then nodded. “Yeah, it was a surprise when I woke up here for me too..” he halfheartedly joked, his voice trailing off._

_“Well, even with the unfortunate event that lead to us meeting, I’m glad that we did, and I don’t think this is going to be a one time thing, I think your interesting, and I want to know more about you, and I’m sure being a ghost must be cool,” I said, with a smile._

_“You seem cool too, I’m glad you're not scared of me,” he agreed with a smile._

_“Hmm, you're too cute and nice to be scared of,” I replied, my false confidence being replaced with real confidence._

_“I-uhh-hngg,” he squeaked, I’m sure that if he weren’t a ghost, he would be beet red. I laughed at his loss of composure._

_“Well, my dad is probably going to come back soon if I don’t catch up with him soon, but I think I want a souvenir, any recommendations?” I stated with a smile._

_He laughed, and gave me a snake necklace, “I think that this would be appropriate,” he said with another laugh._

_“Seems perfect to me, how did you know I loved snakes?” I asked with a chuckle._

_“Just a guess, my friend,” he replied with a smile._

_We exchanged farewells, and I ran to catch up with my dad._

Now someone else was living in his apartment. He was sure to be scared of scaring them away like he had with the first few people who tried to move into the apartment. I wish I could talk to him more, but he can’t stay away from the apartment for too long, and I can’t just go into the place now that someone lives there, it would be breaking in. That doesn’t stop him from coming and talking to me in my bedroom for about an hour and a half before retreating back to his home a few times a week.

So when I woke up from a chill, and saw him in my room, it didn’t surprise me, what did was the frantic look on his face, the fear etched into every corner of his face.

“I messed up, Dee…” he said, voice frantic and full of fear.

I sat up calmly, and looked him in the eye, his eyes seemingly looking everywhere other than my eyes for a moment, before he looked me in the eye again. “Tell me what happened, it can’t be all that bad,” I said in as calm of a voice that I could manage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk if im going to change Dee's name with the new development in the new episode, and if i do decide that that is his real name, he will still go by Dee, as it was already a nickname


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tw: Mentions or death, guns, violence, flashbacks

It was three in the morning, nobody should’ve been awake, so I took a break from being entirely transparent, and was just calmly looking over my old room, thinking about how the new person who moved in, I believe his name to be Patton, from what I had heard, decorated it in a way that looked way better than the way I had it decorated, and managed to keep it clean, unlike me, when I was broken from my trance from seeing movement out of the corner of my eye, Patton was awake. I tried to keep myself quiet, thinking he would just leave the room, and I could make myself invisible again without him even looking my way. He got up to leave, took a couple steps, but then turned to face me, just before I turned fully invisible. 

I saw the fear in his eyes as he ran out of the room, and I heard him pounding on a door, and screaming. I left the apartment, fleeing to Dee’s bedroom.

Dee had been my best friend for years, he didn’t flee when he first saw me, all those years ago. He accepted me with open arms, and became the best friend that I had ever had. He also introduced me to my other best friend, Remus, who was way too interested in how I was killed, and how cool ghosts were, to be scared, they were the only people who really knew that I existed, and they were the only people who I trusted.

I knew Dee felt my presence, the chill that followed me everywhere I went, when he slowly opened his eyes, and turned his head to look at me, a look of surprise crossing his features, before he settled.

“I messed up, Dee…” I said, the fear evident in my voice.

He slowly and calmly sat up, and looked me in the eye, I noticed the snake necklace around his neck, he seemingly never took it off, before returning his eye contact. “Tell me what happened, it can't be all that bad,” he said in a very calm voice, definitely trying to calm me down. 

I sighed, and started my story, “It’s like three in the morning, right?” he nodded, “So I didn’t expect anyone to be awake, so I let myself be visible for a while, just kinda resting, then the one staying in my room woke up,” Dee’s eyes widened. “He didn’t see me,” Dee seemingly relaxed, “at first,” I finished, and Dee looked panicked again. “It seemed like he was just going to leave the room, so I was trying to go invisible again, so he wouldn’t see me when he got back, but he turned around just before I got the chance to go fully invisible!” 

“Oh dear,” Dee said in a low, calming voice, “that must have been scary.”

“It was, and after he saw me, he ran away, he ran away from me!” I could feel the tears coming, “Why does everyone run away?” The dam broke, and I was crying.

“Shh, shhh, it’s going to be ok,” Dee reassured me, “He only saw you for a second, he was probably surprised, he’s probably going to think he was seeing things tomorrow. It isn’t your fault.” Dee was so nice, if it were anyone else who I woke up at three a.m., they would have told me to leave, and worry about it the next day and let them sleep, but Dee was different, he cared so much, I loved him… 

Dee suggested that I go back, and I could come back the next day and talk about it again, and he might even call Remus over, so I went back up to the apartment, staying invisible this time, and waited for the day to come, so I could see Dee again, and see Remus. 

Minutes seemed to take hours, but eventually, I saw the sun begin to rise, and heard the alarm from who I believed to be Logan’s room. It was normally turned off immediately, but it wasn’t. It wasn’t. It wasn’t. It was so loud. So loud. Too loud. I began to feel myself start to panic, and suddenly there was a hand around my throat, a gun to my back, I was in Patton's room, no, I was in my room, there were people moving around me, I wasn’t able to move, and then, bang, bang, bang, bang, and I was bleeding, and sobbing silently, I wasn’t able to make any noise.

Then I realized what was going on. I was having a flashback, I was fine, and they were gone, I was fine, they were gone, I was fine. The alarm was gone, it was quiet, and I was alone. I was alone. 

I began to check the door and window, making sure they were locked on instinct, and went through the rooms to make sure nobody was here. Nobody in the kitchen, the microwave was closed, no one in the bathroom, no one in Dev’s room, nobody in my room, I sighed with relief for that one, then to Kali’s room, there were people in Kali’s room, three people in Kali’s room, sleeping in Kali’s bed, and none of them were Kali. I felt the panic boil inside me, who are these people, I need to call 911.

Then I remembered, oh. Dev and Kali moved out, and the people in the bed were Logan, Patton, and Roman. They lived here now, this isn’t Kali’s room anymore. I didn’t have a room anymore. I am dead, they live here now, not me, I am not alive. 

In all honesty, they looked cute there together, all snuggled up, I was kinda jealous, I never got to experience that while I was alive, I never met my soulmates.

I wondered if I should do something to wake them up, because Logan liked to be very punctual, so I brought his alarm clock into the room, and set an alarm for twenty minutes after, not wanting to ruin the moment, but still giving Logan enough time to get ready and get coffee without having to worry about worrying about being late. He really liked to be punctual.

I then wandered back into the living room, or as Patton had been calling it since he got there, the family room, and relaxed in a corner, and dosed off a bit, after making sure there was no way for me to turn visible again, and making sure that everything was locked again.

When I awoke again, it was much brighter, and nobody was in the house, there were birds and bugs flying around, the world was more awake. I checked the clock, and saw that it was eleven-thirty, and knew that Dee and Remus would be free at two thirty, I began my three hour wait.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow, its been a minute, hasn't it, i have been working on other things and didn't get around to finishing this

I woke up to the sound of my alarm, which would be normal if I hadn’t fallen asleep in Romans room with him and Patton, with no recollection of bringing my alarm clock with me. I was grateful that it was there, though, I liked to be punctual. I reached over to shut the alarm off, before getting up to go get dressed and to make coffee, then I looked at the clock, and almost dropped it out of surprise, it was forty minutes after my alarm was supposed to go off, that with my lack of remembrance of bringing it with me, I started to believe something strange was going.

I walked into my room to get dressed, and walked to the kitchen to make coffee, but when I walked past the corner where the little bar separating the kitchen from the ‘family room’ I felt a strange chill run through my body. Things seemed to be getting stranger and stranger this morning.

I made the coffee, poured myself a mug, and then sat on the couch and read while waiting for my boyfriends to wake up. 

Patton was the first to wake up, pouring himself a cup of coffee and venturing to the couch, curling up against my side.

“Good morning, Patt.”

“Morning, Lo,” Patton yawned. It was, let's say, too cute to process, with his bed head, curled up against my side, I almost forgot the strange events from earlier.

I sighed, “Feeling any better from last night?” I asked, calmly.

“Yeah, I was probably just seeing things, I didn’t have my glasses fully on my face, and I was tired, but I’m glad you still stayed with us, Logie,” Patton smiled, wrapping his arms around me.

I felt very content there, but Patton still needed to get ready, “Patt, dear, shouldn’t you go and get ready for your day? Roman will be up soon, and he will hog the bathroom,” I calmly reminded him.

“Oh yeah! Thanks for reminding me, Logie!” Patton hopped up, and kissed me on the cheek before running off towards the bathroom.

Roman left his room soon after, also pouring himself some coffee, before coming over to give me a peck on the cheek before also heading off towards the bathroom, getting there just as soon as Patton left, and Patt hugged Roman before going into his room to change.

I love my soulmates with all my heart, but we all know that two more are still out there somewhere.

I hear Romans phone ring, and hear him go from annoyed to very excited, very fast. He runs out of the bathroom, into the ‘family room’ and grabs my hands.

“REMUS FINALLY GOT DEE TO AGREE TO COME MEET US AT FOR LUNCH IN A FEW WEEKS!” he yelled, he seemed very excited.

“REALLY?” Patton asked, after running out of his room.

“Yeah, he said he would’ve preferred sooner, but he wouldn't be able to make it for a while because of other arrangements.”

“It would be nice to meet the one Remus speaks so fondly of,” I said, calmly, before getting up to put my mug into the dishwasher, and to grab my things to get ready to go.

The day went by fast, and I got home, ready to just have a quiet night with my soulmates. We had decided a few nights ago that we would all hang out together that night, and that's exactly what we did, up until things started getting strange again. Patton one a game of uno, and yelled out in happiness, and Roman screamed in defeat, and then the air suddenly got chiller, Patton started shivering, and Roman brought Patton to his chest, trying to comfort him, for he was obviously scared, probably from the strange occurrence that had happened the previous night.

That's when the voice spoke up, “Quiet, quiet,” at that point, Patton started shaking in fear.

“Stop moving and be quiet,” the voice hissed, “Too loud, too loud.”

“I’m so sorry,” I heard Patton whisper, before hiding his face in Romans chest.

“Why are you here? You’re not supposed to be here,” the voice rasped.

“We live here, mysterious voice!” Roman called out, bravely, or stupidly, I hadn’t decided yet.

“You need to leave,” the voice rasped, but then there was a gasp, and a much less raspy, much less scary, “I’m so sorry!” then, everything was quiet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it was late when i wrote this, and i have no clue what is happening anymore, but its fun, and the next chapter was really fun to write


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow a lot of this chapter doesn't make sense, but hang with me plz, im trying

Oh dear god, what had I done? Patton yelled, and I got scared, and started panicking, I was mainly talking to the nothing that was trying to kill me, but I must’ve been speaking out loud, judging by their faces when I came to. They looked so scared. Oh my god, I had told them to leave, multiple times, so I did the only thing I could think of, I apologized, and then I ran.

I went to Dee’s room, and found him on his computer, he barely had the chance to look at me before I started bawling.

“Hey, hey, hey, shh, shh, it’s going to be ok,” Dee was by my side in an instant, and seeing as my frantic state caused me to have a somewhat solid form, he hugged me, and didn’t let go, and continued to comfort me, “it’s ok, they are gone, you are ok, shh, shh, can you breathe with me?”

It took a while, but I finally calmed down enough to speak, but I held onto my form, craving the touch from Dee, the only man who understood me.

“Can you tell me what happened, now?” Dee asked me quietly, as if to not disturb the calmness of the situation.

“O-o-one o-of th-them yel-yelled, and I-I got scared, and… and… I TOLD THEM TO LEAVE!” and then I was crying again, and grabbing onto Dee as hard as I could.

“You told them to leave? Why?” Dee asked, cautiously.

“I wasn’t really talking to them, but they heard me tell the people in my head to go away, and since there wasn't anybody else there, they thought I was talking to them, they are going to move out again!”

“Why exactly don’t you want them to move out?” Dee asked me.

“I-I don’t actually know, I normally want my apartment empty, besides you, but something is drawing me to them,” I replied, suddenly way more confused than I was when I got here.

“If you don’t want them to leave, that's fine, but if you don’t want them to take it the wrong way, you may have to reveal yourself to them, and explain what happened.”

“If I reveal myself, they will just want to move out more!” I cried.

“You won't know unless you try, Virgil, you know that,” Dee said, calmly.

“I know, but that doesn’t stop me from being scared…” My voice trailed off.

“I know, sweetheart, why don’t you wait to see what happens, and then we can act, ok?”

“Ok,” I replied, softly. Dee offered to let me stay a while, and so I did, we talked, and laughed, and everything seemed normal again, like it was just the two of us again.

After spending some time with Dee, I finally returned home, and Patton, Logan, and Roman, all seemed to have retreated to their rooms, or all into one room again.

I went and sat in a corner, and prayed that they didn’t immediately move out, and hadn’t started packing again, because for some unknown reason, I really wanted them to stay.

The next day, everyone came out of Logan's room, and they all seemed tired, and a little nervous.

“There is a possibility that our neighbors were fighting, and one of them was being particularly loud last night,” Logan stated.

“I hope so, but I also hope that they are fine!” Patton chirped.

Roman still looked a bit skeptical, “If anything else strange happens, we are going to start investigating the possibility of a ghost,” Roman stated, Patton and Logan agreed.

Ok, all I had to do was not make anything strange happen again, and they could stay!

Too bad I'm not very good at not making strange things happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmm, pray our ghoul boy isn't _too_ destructive
> 
> Wow, this was so fun to write, i am a sucker for sympathetic Deceit, does anyone else crave it like I do?
> 
> I'm sorry for the short chapters, it would have been longer, but it really made sense to end it where i did. I am fairly sure that the next chapter is longer, but im not sure, they will get back to being about 1k words per chapter soon


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry in advance for the perspective changes, i try not to do that in the middle of chapters
> 
> Tw: mentions of guns, panic attacks, ptsd

~Roman~

Strange things continued to happen, we would hear gasps, and sometimes sobs anytime there was a loud noise in the apartment, and many sobs anytime there was a gun sound or even a gun shown on the television.

Patton was getting more and more scared, and Logan didn’t want to admit that there was any possibility of there being a ghost in our apartment. I had started complaining to my brother, and he also thought that the place was definitely haunted. He said his friend also thinks that the place is haunted, and that it would be best if we just asked him since he has been dealing with a ghost himself. 

Remus said that he would get us in touch at some point, but they were both busy so we would have to wait, and that is just what we did.

Other than strange noises, though, nothing seemed all that amiss. Nothing was going missing, and nothing was hurting us, so either this ghost has no intention of hurting us, and meant that apology, or they are very patient, and are waiting for the perfect time to strike. I was hoping for the first one, seeing as it would be cool to have a nice ghost around, and we could be friends, but I didn’t really see that as a likely case.

Most stories about ghosts were not happy ones, and ended in people getting killed, it was sad, but it was the scary truth, as much as I didn’t want to admit it. I would like to prefer that there could be good in any being, but history has proven that ghosts just aren’t all that nice of beings.

Most believe ghosts to be myths, or just stories, like Logan, but others, like Patton and I, do believe in them, there is plenty of proof, unsolved mysteries, seemingly incomprehensible deaths that occurred after claims of ghosts, it all makes sense, which is why I was starting to get worried. 

We had stayed in each other's rooms for a few days after we heard the voice, but now everyone was finally ready to sleep alone in their rooms again, though, I tried to make sure everyone was safe in bed before I decided to go to sleep, seeing them off for the night. It worked seemingly well, until Patton came running to my room, nearly in tears again after hearing someone crying, claiming it was one of the most heartbreaking things he had ever heard, and asked to spend another night with me, I let him, because I loved him too much not to. Patt continued to stay in my room for a few nights after, but eventually migrated back to his own room. 

Again, things seemed good for a while, until someone accidentally left the microwave open, and our ghost friend had a pretty big break down. Sobs echoed through the apartment, and small items floated in the air, before everything went silent again, and everything fell to the floor, we never left the microwave open again, and stayed with each other for a few more days. That’s when Logan finally admitted that we may have a ghost problem.

Our little ghost friend would also lock all the doors and windows, if ever left unlocked, and would continue to throw a fit anytime there was a remotely loud noise in the apartment. It was getting rather annoying.

Then, one day, everything came to a grinding halt when I saw the flickering of a young man standing in the corner, then Logan saw a flickering young man locking his window one night, and Patton saw a flickering young man sitting on the floor in his room. We all knew at that point, our place was haunted.

After that experience, we never really saw a flicker of him again, and everything seemed to quiet down a bit.

I then got a text from Remus, confirming the date that they could all meet up.

The day was the Thursday of the next week, and we couldn’t be more excited. There was a possibility of us either getting rid of the ghost, or learning how to calm the ghost down, at least, was exciting for all of us. Patton was probably the most excited, he wanted to learn how to help with all the sobbing he heard from his room. That sweet man just wanted to help give the ghost closure.

Logan wanted to know if there would be a reasonable way to communicate with it, and if it would be able to hold a visible form, or a physical form, he also wanted to know what he was made of, and how he existed, basically science nerd stuff.

I wanted to know if there was even a sliver of a possibility of the person to be nice, or if they wanted any harm to actually come to us. Why other ghosts seemed to kill people so readily, and why they always seemed to stay in the same place, never really leaving. It was interesting, one would think that with the chance to come back from the dead, that they would want to travel, not stay exactly where they died for all eternity.

Remus kept on texting me on how his friend was very excited to see us, and how they were both very excited, and how Dee was trying his best to prepare for any questions we may have for him. If I didn’t know better, I would say he was just as excited as we were.

~Logan~

Thursday had rolled around rather quickly, and all of my questions were growing, how was it possible for a ghost to exist? What were they made of? Can they communicate with us? Do they want to communicate with us? Is it hard to make themselves seen? Is that why the one in our apartment keeps out of sight?

Lunch came quickly, and we were all waiting at the small cafe that we would eat at together. Remus came in, practically dragging another young man, around our age, behind him. 

The man Remus was dragging was attractive, to say the least, as well as very interesting. He had vitiligo that ran down the left side of his face, as well as heterochromia, his left eye an amber color, and his right a dark brown.

As he got closer, I felt my right arm heat up, and looked down to see my mark glowing, this Dee man was one of my last two soulmates. 

Dee clutched his chest, and then a necklace as he looked at us in wonder. Roman sat wide eyed, and Patton squealed, before running to hug Dee. Dee looked down, and whispered, “I didn’t expect to meet the rest of you today…”

Patton squealed again, “You know our other soulmate?”

“Uh… yeah… he is the one who gave me my necklace…” Dee replied softly.

Roman spoke next, obviously excited, but trying to contain himself, and keep calm. “Is there any way we could meet him sometime soon?”

“It’s… Uh… complicated…” He replied softly

“Complicated how?” I found myself asking.

Dee shot a look to Remus, who looked confused, but then gasped.

“It's not…?”

Dee just nodded.

“No…” Remus seemed fairly distressed.

“What?” Patton asked, fear obvious in his voice.

“Like I said, it’s rather complicated…” Dee said again.

“Does he even know?” Remus asked. ‘Does he even know?’ How could he not? It is very clear when you meet your soulmate.

“I don’t think so, to be honest…” Dee said, quietly.

“Well, if I could give my expert advice, I would say that you bring your new soulmates over with us to meet him,” Remus said.

“I would be fine with that,” Patton said.

“It sounds splendid to me,” Roman adds.

“It would be… satisfactory, of course, only if you're ok with it,” I add in.

“I… guess it would be fine, you should meet him anyways, meet me here at a little before two, and I’ll take you over to my apartment.

Two closed in quickly, and we all soon found ourselves at the cafe, waiting now only for Dee. He showed up, and led us out of the cafe, and down a familiar street, it seemed his apartment was in the same direction as ours. Our apartment building grew closer as he led us on, and then we were at our apartment building, and Dee was leading us into an apartment, in our building, on the first floor.

“How have we never met?” Roman asks, “We live in this building as well.”

“Oh, well that is really quite the coincidence, seeing as our other soulmate ‘lives; here as well,” Dee said, shocking Roman and Patton, I, on the other hand, was more worried about the way he said ‘lived’.

Dee led us into his room. “He should be here soon, he doesn’t like being late,” Dee said, and Remus giggled and shot Dee a strange look, ‘well at least one of my soulmates is as punctual as me,’ I thought. We all waited for a knock, but a knock never came, because after waiting a few minutes, we all felt a chill, and looked up to see a man appearing out of thin air, then I felt my arm heat up. This person, this thing, was our soulmate, but how was it possible? They looked familiar, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. And as soon as it’s eyes opened, and it saw us, it was gone, vanished into thin air. A scared look passed its face before it disappeared, and now Dee was panicking.

~Virgil~

I appeared in Dee’s room, he asked me to help him explain ghosts to some of his other friends, which confused me to be honest, but he said that they thought that they were being haunted, and wanted to know how to deal with ghosts. Normally I would say no, but he, and Remus, practically begged me to help, and it wasn't like I was ever going to see these people ever again, and it isn't like they can do anything to me, and it made Dee very happy, so why not just go with it.

I got a look at my surroundings, and saw way more people than I expected, I thought 2 people at most would be over, but there were a total of 7 other people in the room. I started to panic. Why were there so many people there? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Where am I? Who are all these people? They are so familiar, but I can’t remember them? They are moving around me, and there is a hand on my throat and gun to my back, and everyone is moving.

Why me? Why me? Where were my friends when I needed them? Why was it so loud? Everything began fading out. I needed to be alone, but I wasn’t alone, because they were there. He was there, he was there, and I needed to leave, I couldn’t leave, all of these people were moving, going in and out of the rooms, they needed to be still, and I was sinking to the ground, I was dying, again, and it was so loud, so loud. Again. Again. Again. Why me?

Then there weren't any people, no one was there, I was alone. No, there was the guy behind me, why was he still there? Why was I still there? What was happening? Bang, pain. Bang, pain. Bang, pain. Pain, pain pain, loud, too loud, silent. Dark and silent. The world is gone, I was gone, I was nothing. I liked this nothing, there was no pain, no fear, no death.

But my nothing was stolen from me, as the light started seeping through my vision, and I realized that I was in the closet in the bathroom, the towel closet. I always sat in the towel closet when I was scared. When I was alive, that is, and then I wasn’t, but I wasn’t supposed to be in the towel closet, I was supposed to be meeting Dee and Remus to help their friends, what happened? 

Then I remembered, I was going to help Dee and Re explain ghosts, and I panicked because there were too many of them moving around. Well, that went terribly.

I sat in the closet for a while, and then I heard the door open, and close as the new tenants came home. They were all talking worriedly, and quietly among themselves, so I just stayed in the towel closet, laying back on the top shelf. I slowly fell asleep, and then after what seemed like only a few minutes, I burst awake, feeling the phantom pains of where I got shot, and headed to Dee’s apartment to see if he was home.

I knew Dee was aware of my entrance when he came running at me, crying , forcing me to use a ton of energy to basically keep him from running into a wall.

“Woah there, are you ok?” I asked cautiously.

“Are YOU ok?” he fired back, “I’m sorry I had so many people over, I forgot how you got with crowds.”

“It’s all good, I’m… totally fine, calm yourself, I can’t hold you up forever.”

“Oh, uh yeah!” Dee says, scrambling off me.

“Who were your friends anyways?” I asked, slowly growing more curious.

“My soulmates,” Dee replied.

“Oh, you finally found them, that’s fantastic,” I chuckle, “How’d you find them?”

“Remus helped me, one of them is actually his brother, so,” Dee replied, obviously excited.

“That's so cool, I’m really glad you found them, you deserve to be happy,” I was really excited for him, and pushed my jealousy down. “Can you tell me their names?”

“Hm? Oh yeah!” Dee says, still clearly excited. “Their names are Patton, Logan, and Roman,”

If I still had a heart, it would have stopped, and if my body still regulated heat, my face would’ve gone white. His soulmates are the people who moved into my apartment. Nononononono, they must just have the same name, it must be a coincidence.

“It’s crazy that I never met them too, because they also live in this complex, but I guess it was easier to know people when I lived with my dad. Heh.”

Nope, it was confirmed, his soulmates were my technical roommates. Oh dear god. I wanted to curl up in a whole and die, but I couldn’t, because I was already dead. So instead I made a joke, and tried to lie to myself.

“Ya know what's funny? The people living in my apartment have the exact same names, and all happen to be soulmates, isn’t that funny?”

Dee’s face actually did turn white, and then red, and then it went back to normal, and he sighed. “Of course they are.”

Yes, of course they were. It was at that moment that I decided I wanted my apartment back to myself, and that I wanted them gone, away from the place, just like how I scared away anyone else from moving in, because, a piece of little known ghost knowledge, if a ghost gets to stay in a certain place, they tend to get territorial, so, little college students, let the games begin.

Wait what? I didn’t want them to leave? What was happening? I knew ghosts could be territorial, but I had never felt so vicious in my life, or in my afterlife, why did that happen?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry again for the perspective changes. This one chapter was actually supposed to be three chapters, but I combined them because they were all to short to be one chapter each, so I put them together. Idk why the chapters have been getting so short, i guess i stopped adding as much detail into the chapters, I am going to try to put more detail as the chapters continue, and I may not update again for a few days while i write the next few chapters,
> 
> but... it seems our ghoul boy is getting rather protective over his first found soulmate, ooohhhhh, i wonder how he will react when he founds out that he is living with his soulmates, and has been friends with one of them for years, hmmm, how will the others react to having a ghost, who haunts their apartment, be their soulmate, how will they deal with his little tantrums? I wonder.


	8. Chapter 8

I knew, the second I saw him, who he was. He was the man I had seen in my room twice. He was the ghost from our apartment, and he was my last soulmate. My soulmate died. He died in my home. He was dead, and now he was gone, and Dee was panicking. I would deal with the ghost soulmate later, now Dee was more important.

I threw my arms over Dee, protectively. We sunk down to the floor, shaking, and I held him in my lap, rocking ever so slightly. I had one hand running through his hair lovingly, and another hand rubbing his back, and he started sobbing into my chest. 

I felt arms wrap around me, and assumed it was Roman, as he was always more physically affectionate than Logan, but then, I realised that it was Remus who was hugging us, obviously very worried for his friend.

Then I felt another pair of arms wrap around us, this time it _was_ Roman, and then Logan joined our little pile on the floor. We hugged, and Dee sobbed into my chest, and I held onto him, allowing him to let it all out as we all slightly rocked on the floor of the small room.

Eventually, we migrated from the floor, and moved to the couch outside of Dee’s room, we all sat there, nobody moving for a while, but then Remus removed himself from the pile, and sadly said that he had to go, his shift was going to start soon, and he had already been late too much that month.

We watched him go, and then I turned my head back to Dee, who was curling into my chest. He started tearing up again, and I pulled him closer to my chest. The others tightened their holds on us as well. We sat in silence for a bit before Dee finally spoke up. 

“I’m sorry, I forgot how scared he got about crowds, I got excited, and it must have really scared him, I didn’t mean to cause all of this panic,” he timidly stated.

“It is not in any way your fault, we are the ones who convinced you to take us to meet him, even though you kept on trying to tell us that whatever relationship you had with him was complicated,” Logan responded in a cool, but loving tone.

“There is absolutely no way you could have known that he would react that way, it's not like you have ever had us over or anything,” Roman added.

“No one can blame you for getting excited, we all probably would have done the same thing in your situation,” I reassured him.

“What was his name?” Logan asked, “I don’t believe I ever caught it.”

“His name is Virgil, and he was murdered in this complex,” Dee said.

“This complex, not this apartment, so he haunts you even though he didn’t die in your apartment?” Logan asks, did he not realize who the ghost is?

“Oh, no, he doesn’t haunt me at all, we have known each other since about a week after he died, as my dad owns the complex, I was helping clear out the place when he appeared near me, that’s when he gave me this necklace,” Dee said, gesturing to the snake necklace around his neck. “We used to hang out a lot more, but then someone moved into his apartment, and he doesn’t like staying out of the place for too long, as it makes him unsafe.”

“Ah, that is interesting, so he can leave the place he haunts, but it makes him feel unsafe, how intriguing,” Logan murmurs to himself, and I laugh.

“It’s good that he isn’t trapped in the same place all the time, I would go crazy,” I added.

“Same, imagine being stuck in the same apartment for an eternity, with nothing to do but bother the people who live there,” Roman laughed.

“I mean, he doesn’t even like messing with people, he just gets so scared sometimes, it can be a little hard to handle,” Dee remarked, foundly.

“Oh? Why is that?” I found myself asking.

“His apartment was broken into while he was at work one day, and when he got back, he was basically held hostage until the people there took all they wanted to, and then he was shot, the poor guy was murdered in his own home, in his own room,” Dee sighed sadly.

“Oh, that’s so terrible, oh god, I can’t even imagine, you are supposed to be safe in your own home, being killed there?” Roman gasped.

“Yes, I imagine it must be terrible,” Logan added.

“Mhm,” Dee sighed again.

We fell into a comfortable silence, and I started to drift off, eventually, I fell asleep, resting my chin on top of Dee’s fluffy hair.

I guess we all fell asleep, because suddenly, I was being woken up by Logan, stating that we had to return home. We walked up to our apartment, speaking quietly to one another.

When we got home, we had to get ready for the day, because we all had morning classes that day. We were all rushing around, and ended up being too slow, and waiting twenty minutes for Roman to get out of the bathroom.

I barely made it to class on time, and I was barely there at all in my head. I kept on thinking back to Virgil, the shy ghoul boy **(ghostie boy and ghoul boy are his official pet names now, fight me)** who was murdered in the apartment I now call home, my soulmate. How easily freaked out he is, how he didn’t deserve all the terrible things that those monsters did to him.

I took any notes, and only halfway paid attention. It was a struggle, tbh.

I made my way home, and sat in the family room for a while. I was trying to think of ways to talk to Virgil, maybe get him to come out of his shell, when he appeared in front of me. I felt the chill, and looked up to see him staring down at me, his face was cold and unreadable, but it softened a bit.

“Hello,” he spoke quietly and calmly.

“Hey,” I responded.


	9. Chapter 9

How did I not realize before, Virgil's housemate are my, and his, soulmates. It was so obvious in hindsight. How likely was it that another apartment in our complex was haunted, as well as nobody complained about ghosts other than the people in Virgil’s apartment.

I felt so dumb, it was sad. Maybe that meant that I could hang out in Virgil’s apartment more considering that my other soulmates also lived there, god, I was still calling it “Virgil’s apartment,” even though technically, it was in no way Virgil’s, he didn’t pay any bills, the apartment wasn’t in any way under his name anymore, it was under my other soulates names. Maybe I should call it “my soulmates’ apartment?” That sounded weird, Virgil’s apartment it is, he had lived there longer anyways. 

My mind didn’t want to focus on anything important, I was so nervous, if my mind wasn’t wandering to anything but what I needed to be thinking about, my mind was filled with questions and worst case scenarios. Did they know Virgil was the one haunting their apartment? Who was the one who saw him? Who was the one who slept in his room? Did they know all his triggers? Did they know that I know the ghost in their apartment? What if some knew, and others didn’t? What if they found out that I knew that Virgil lived in their apartment and hated me?

I needed to calm down, so I left, and went on a walk to clear my head. I walked down to the cafe that I met my soulmates in, and happened to find Remus, and his platonic soulmate, Remy.

“Hey, Remus,” I called out.

“Dee! How are you?” Remus asked, upon seeing me.

“Eh, I’ve had better days, honestly,” I replied.

“Aww, want to talk about it, babe?” Remy asked as I approached the table.

“I would love to talk about it, but it wouldn’t make much sense to you,” I replied.

“Well you will have to explain it to me, then,” Remy replied with a smile.

I sighed. “Ok, we’ll explain it as we go.”

“We?” Remy asked.

“If I am correct, I believe that I know exactly what is happening,” Remus giggled.

“Yes, well, let’s just get on, so I too can understand what is happening,” Remy stated, starting to sound impatient.

“Yes, let’s,” I started. “So basically, long story short, Roman, and his crew, live in Virgil’s apartment.”

“Who is Virgil, and how is it possible for them to live in someone else’s apartment?” Remy questioned.

“Hm? Virgil is a ghost,” I replied.

“Do you mean, that thing that appeared in your room, was that Virgil?” Remy asked.

“Hm? Oh, I forgot you and Emile tagged along, how is Emile, by the way?” I asked.

“He is doing well, the incident with whom I’m guessing Virgil spooked him a bit, though, sorry we left in such a hurry,” Remy replied, apologetically.

“Eh, if I went to somebody's house expecting to find a person, and instead found a ghoul boy, I would freak out too,” I laughed it off.

“So, he lives in their apartment, what is so bad about that?” Remy asked.

“Well, he is our soulmate, they have been complaining about an annoying ghoul boy, and he has some form of PTSD, which can cause trouble when other people are around,” I replied, listing the reasons on my fingers.

“He is your what?”

“Remy, my guy, he is their soulmate, dude,” Remus said, in a scarily chill voice.

“How?”

“It would be my guess that, because he still technically has a soul, sense all he is, is a soul, it means he can still have a ‘ _soul_ ’mate,” I replied, sounding a little too much like how Logan sounded for my tastes.

“Ah, now that you say it like that, it makes sense,” Remy remarked.

“Well, unfortunately, I have things to do, I just came here for coffee, please, don’t let me interrupt your platonic outing, I will be on my way now,” I excused myself from the conversation, ordered my coffee, and started to walk home. I got to my front door, when I decided to pay my soulmates a visit.

I got up the stairs, and to Virgil’s apartment, and knocked on the door. It took a minute, but then, a surprised looking Patton opened the door.

“Hey, Dee, I wasn’t expecting you to come by, actually, I wasn’t aware that you knew where we lived, to be honest.”

“Well, yes, none of you knew that I know where you live, but that is kind of the reason I wanted to stop by, is everyone else home?” I asked.

“Nope, it’s just me and the ghostie boy!” Patton exclaimed.

“Ahh, yes, well, do you mind if I come in?”

“Sure, you are welcome any time, my friend,” Patton said, stepping aside, and gesturing for me to come in.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wooo i had inspiration at like midnight, and managed to actually write a full chapter, yay, I think that I have decided to continue to write this, even on my break from pretty much all types of media, because writing it makes me feel happy and productive, and I would miss your comments way too much to just stop writing
> 
> also, real quick, im sorry that i need to approve all of your comments, nobody seems to mind, which is nice, but i didn't even mean to turn it on, and I cant turn it off, and I hate having to approve all your comments because i know i really dont need to

Virgil was in front of me. He was standing there, looking at me, his eyes a mix of resentful and loving. He looked… beautiful.

“So, umm, I uhh, wanted to apologize for freaking out earlier, and everything, I’m not good with crowds…” Virgil spoke, his voice was like a melody. 

“No, we were all panicking, and we must have scared you, it’s in no way your fault,” I replied, almost too quickly, “I would react in the same way if I was in your position.”

Virgil’s lips quirked up, “Uhh, I am also sorry for being scary in general, it wasn’t my intention, but I get scared so easily, it’s kinda hard to control myself,” Virgil chuckled.

“Nah, again, I totally understand, I would be scared too, if it had happened to me,” I laughed.

“Hmm? You sure, I feel like instead of hiding, you would latch yourself to the nearest human, and never let them go, claiming them as your ‘child’” Virgil laughed, oh what a beautiful sound.

“Hm, you seem to know me well, Virgil,” I smiled at him.

“I-uh I don’t remember giving you my name?” Virgil questioned.

“And I don’t remember telling you anything about myself, but here we are,” I joked.

“Fair, I guess,” Virgil sighed.

“Mhm, now, is that all you wanted to say before you sunk back into the shadows of our apartment?”I asked, only half joking.

“I, kinda, just wanted to hang out? I know that you are Dee’s soulmate, and I love and care for Dee, I kinda want to know his soulmate, ya know, he was my only friend for years, and is the only reason I have another friend,” Virgil sighed, fondly.

“Ah yes, he seems quite fond of you, as well, he was so worried when you disappeared on us,” I laughed.

“Oh yes, I could tell when I came back to check on him, and he practically crushed me in a hug,” Vigil chuckled, again.

“We can touch you? That is a thing we can do?” I gasped, I really wanted to hug the adorable ghoul boy in front of me.

“Uhh, sometimes? It’s kinda complicated, I need to focus on holding a physical form, and when I want, or need, to get back, I have to refocus on being… barely there,” he said, clearly contemplating. “Transforming to and back from being solid is more tiring than keeping the forms up, though.”

“So we can touch you, but it is complicated?” I asked, still hoping that I could hug the ghostie boy.

“Yes, I guess,” Virgil answered, kind of looking unsure.

“That’s cool, but why don’t we sit down, and talk, that is what you wanted to do, right?” I suggested, mainly because it was starting to get awkward, and I just wanted to cuddle into the couch, and have a chill conversation with the ghoul boy.

“Uhm, yeah, that sounds nice, but you may want to get a blanket or something, I am a naturally cold being, and radiate that coldness around my ‘body’ I guess.”

“Oh, yeah, I kinda noticed the chill,” I smiled before running into my room to grab my favorite fluffy blanket, it was a gift from Roman a little after we first met.

When I came back, Virgil was sitting on the floor, he smiled at me as I walked in, and I swear my heart melted.

“That looks like a nice blanket,” Virgil absentmindedly commented.

“Oh yes, it was a gift from Roman,” I replied.

“That was very nice of him.”

“Yes, he is a sweetheart, why don’t you sit on the couch, it is more comfortable than the floor,” I suggested, not mentioning that what I really wanted was to be close to the boy.

“I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable, otherwise, I probably would have sat on the couch,” Virgil replied, sheepishly.

“I don’t care, I would rather you be comfortable, than have me feel awkward having us both on the couch.”

“I would rather die again over making someone uncomfortable, I don’t like hurting people, even in the smallest ways.”

“Awww, that is so sweet kiddo,” I replied, calling him kiddo on instinct.

“Kiddo? You know that I am older than you, right?”

“Technically, yes, but physically, we are about the same age, so it doesn’t matter,” I shot back.

Virgil sighed. “Yes, I guess you are right,” he said before pulling himself up, and sitting on the couch as far away from me as possible.

“Ya don’t have to sit so far away, I’m not gonna bite,” I chuckled. He sighed, and scooted towards me the slightest bit.

“So, is there anything in particular that you wanted to talk about?” I asked, grasping for conversation.

“Why don’t we start like this is, I don’t know, a blind date or something, we can play like 20 questions or whatever.”

“That sounds fun,” I practically squealed.

“Ok, uh sure, you can go first, I guess.”

“Hmm, uh, ok, what is your favorite color?” I asked.

“Purple, and black, what about you?” He asked.

“Baby blue, uh, how did you meet Dee?”

“Oh, I met him while my apartment was being cleaned out, we talked for a few minutes, and I gave him a necklace, how did you meet all of your soulmates?” he asked, oh, I loved talking about my babies.

“Oh, well, I met Roman in freshman year of high school, because we had homeroom together. At first, we didn’t really talk to each other, we had different cliques, you know, but one day, about, I’d say, two months after school started, we were both walking into the classroom, and I tripped, and then, my leg started to heat up, and I am going to assume his wrist started to heat up as well. We looked at each other at a loss for words, before our teacher, bless his soul, told us to go to the restroom to work things out and talk in private for a bit. We did, and we talked for a while. We left at the bell, and after that, we talked everyday, and made it a thing to try to be as near to each other as possible,” I laughed, god, I loved Roman.

“That is, like, really cute, but it’s also, like, mega cliche, dude,” Virgil laughed.

“Yeah, but it was sweet, you wanted to know how I met all of my soulmates, right?”

“Yeah, but we could make that three questions, instead of just one, so, go on and ask me a question,” Virgil said, he was so cute, and sweet, my heart was melting more each time he said anything.

“Ok, umm, what do you think of the way we decorated our rooms, you have seen them, correct?” I asked, not knowing what else to ask.

“I like it, all of the rooms have their charms, far different from the way my roommates ‘decorated’ their rooms, and by that, I mean they didn’t, neither of them spent too much time here, so they just kinda put the bare minimum into decorating, not that I minded, they were nice, and, I didn’t need to be in their rooms, if we were hanging out, then it would be out here, probably watching some shitty horror movie. You decorated your room way better than how I decorated it. I had like three posters, and I couldn’t seem to keep the room clean, no matter how hard I tried,” Virgil joked.

I had his old room… Wait, didn’t Dee say that Virgil was murdered in his room? Does that mean he was killed in my room? Did he die in my room?

“So, how did you meet Logan?” Virgil asked, pulling me out of my trance.

“Oh, uh, when I was in my senior year, Logan moved into town, we didn’t have any classes together, and so again, we didn’t actually meet for a few weeks, and then, on a Saturday when I worked the opening shift at the cafe I worked at, he came in. He ordered, and then introduced himself, and then his arm began to glow, and my leg began to heat up, my boss noticed, and gave me the day off, and we sat in the back of the cafe and talked for a little before I called Roman to come and meet him. We stayed together for most of the day, and again, tried to hang out a lot more, and not just because we were soulmates, but because we liked each other, and would have wanted to hang out anyways.”

“God, is everything you are a part of adorable,I swear,” Virgil chuckled.

“Hey, I don’t really know, it’s not my fault,” I shot back in feign defensiveness.

He laughed.

“So, uh, do you mind us living in your apartment?” I asked.

“What, my apartment? Nah, it is no longer under my name, I stopped paying rent when I died, it’s your apartment now, and I never mind company, even if acted like I wanted you gone, I was just a little panicked, heh,” Virgil looked apologetic, “I really never meant to scare any of you, it just kind of happened.”

“No, kiddo, we don’t blame you…”

“I know you don’t, but what about everyone else?”

“You know what, why don’t I tell you how I met my other soulmates?” I changed the subject.

“Soulmates?-”

“I met Dee after Roman began to complain about you to his brother, Remus, and we made plans to meet up to talk about ghosts and how to deal with them.” I cut him off, “we met him at a cafe, where we all agreed to meet up, he was practically being dragged by Remus,” I giggled, “once he stopped, and we got a real look at each other, my leg started to heat up. I could barely contain myself, I basically threw myself at him.”

Virgil laughed, “I can see that.”

“Yeah.”

“Now, you said soulmates, with an s, so who is the other one?” Virgil asked.

“Ah ah ah, it’s my turn to ask a question, you don’t want to break the rules of the game, little ghoul boy?”

“Ghoul boy? Oh god, you're as bad as Remus calling me ‘Ghostie Boy’ like it’s my actual name.”

“Ghostie Boy!? That’s so cute!” I squealed.

“Oh don’t you start, just ask me your question,” Virgil sighed.

“Ok, can you feel anything? Like anything at all?”

“Hm, I can’t feel pain, or temperature, but I can feel contact while in my physical form, so yeah, I guess I can feel some things, it’s honestly like someone numbed me,” Virgil answered after a second.

Ah, so that’s why he didn’t know that we were his soulmates, he couldn’t feel the mark heat up, and it is quite possible that he hasn’t checked on them at all, as he has no reason too.

“Ok, now, who is your other soulmate, and how did you meet them?”

“My last soulmate is very interesting. Dee was the reason we met him. It wasn’t exactly a romantic meeting, it was very brief, we barely even got to see him. We were waiting to meet someone in his room, at his apartment, and then, he appeared out of nowhere, he was only there for a couple seconds, but it was enough to set our marks off. He appeared out of nowhere, and then disappeared into thin air,” I looked up, and Virgil seemed to be in a state of shock. “Then, I saw him again today, and we talked, he apologized for scaring us, and we started playing 20 questions, and now he is sitting right in front of me, looking a bit shocked.”

“P-Patton, I-”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel a lot better today than yesterday, i had a fight with one of my best friends, and so much had been going on, that it really pushed me over the edge, and media really wasn't helping me, so i am taking a break from most forms of media right now, but I will not be not be stopping posting here because it calms me down, and makes me really happy, confrontation really throws me for a loop, and yesterday was very confrontational for me, and I realized finally that i needed out, so i left, and most people respected my decision, but some people didn't, and it really hurt for them not to, writing this is something that really helps, and even if i tried not to, ideas are constantly swarming in my head, and i would go crazy with out using my ideas. I really appreciate you all being so willing to wait, and that was a big problem with my friend, he wasn't willing to see that he needed to take time for himself too, and refused to see that the people in his community would rather wait for him to feel better, than to have content, and have him loosing sleep, and never really taking breaks. We fought about that a lot, and seeing you all be so ready helped me realize that i wasn't going crazy, and if I ever need a break again, or plan on actually stopping posting again for a while, i will let you all know. I don't plan on stopping updating at this current moment, but nobody knows what the future holds, and the second i realize that updating is hurting me or causing me too much stress, I promise that I will take an actual break from updating, and you all will be made aware,
> 
> I hope you all have an amazing morning, day, night, or what ever time it is when you see this, and remember, it is ok for you all to take breaks when needed too,
> 
> ~IDK :)


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dude, i was so distracted by everything today, bro

“P-Patton, I-is there someone else in here?”

JkJk

“P-Patton, I-” god, I had no idea what to say. I was Patton's soulmate? I didn’t feel any- oh, yeah, I don’t feel heat, and had no reason to check my soulmark, and it was on my back, so checking it would have been difficult.

“Virgil? Are you ok?” Patton's voice pulled me away from my thoughts.

“Are you saying that I am your soulmate?” I found myself asking.

“Who else would I be talking about? Do you see anyone else here?” Patton asked, looking at me confused.

“B-but how, I’m dead, wait, I guess it makes sense, as I still have a soul, but does that mean I’m everyone else’s soulmate? Does that mean I’m Dee’s soulmate too?”

“Yeah, you are, did you really never notice?” Patton asked.

“I mean, I don’t feel temperature, the way I look doesn’t really change, other than expressions, and even if it did, I had no reason to check, and my mark is on my back, anyways,” I laughed, a little.

“Aww, kiddo, I’m sorry, have you ever even seen the mark?” Patton asked, his voice very sympathetic.

“No, I never really had any reason to check, I mean, I knew that when, if, I met my soulmates, that I would feel it, so I had no need to see what it looked like,” I laughed awkwardly.

“Do you want to see it now?” Patton asked, god, how was it possible for someone to have been so goddamn cute. GOD. He was such a f__king sweetheart, holy s__t. **(FWI, THIS IS PG 13, THERE WILL BE MORE CURSING FROM HERE ON OUT, MAINLY FROM VIRGIL THO, if you want me to continue to censor curse words, tell me, and i will )**

“Uhm, I guess, but how?” I asked, very curious, as my image hasn’t changed from the moment I died, other than the loss of blood, and it was originally there, I just kinda willed it away.

“Well, you’ll take your shirt off, and I will take a picture!” Patton chirped.

“And you are sure that I will show up in this picture?” I asked, “I have never had my picture taken, but, ghosts may be like vampires, not showing up in pictures.”

“Uh, I will just make sure now, hold still, and I’ll take a pic,” Patton grabbed his phone, and quickly snapped a photo of me on the couch, “here, look, you do show up!” Patton cheered, and I looked at the phone, there I was, sitting on the couch staring blankly at the camera.

“Ok, so I will show up in the picture, but how will we get the shirt off, my appearance hasn’t changed since the day I died, other than getting rid of the blood,” I asked.

“B-blood?” Patton shuddered, “How did you get rid of the blood?”

“I just, I don’t know, willed it away?” I answered, sounding a bit unsure, “It made me feel uncomfortable, so I kept on wishing it would go away, and then, one day, it did?”

“Well, why don’t you will your shirt off?” Patton asked, I snorted. “Hey, it’s worth a try!”

“Fiiinnnee, what am I supposed to do? Imagine myself without a shirt?” I asked.

“I… guess?” Patton said, sounding as unsure as I felt.

“Okay then…” I began to imagine myself without a top on, then I felt something very strange, it was a tingly sensation, then Patton gasped.

“IT WORKED! YES” Patton sounded so excited.

I opened my eyes, and my shirt was, in fact, gone. “Wow, this is great, now I know how to change my appearance.”

“Ok, go ahead and turn around so I can take the picture.”

I turned around, and Patton gasped. “Is something wrong?” silence, “Patton?”

“Oh, kiddo!” Patton was suddenly crying, “I’m so sorry!”

At that, I turned around to look at him. “Patton? What are you sorry for?” I asked, actually curious.

Then, he showed me the picture. What shocked him in no way shocked me, what shocked me was the large mark that covered almost half of my back, swirling in beautiful blues, reds, and yellows. What shocked him were the three holes in my back from where I was shot. No longer bloody, just holes, the skin sticking out like it was a hole in a balloon. 

“Patton, it’s not your fault, we didn’t know each other, I don’t even think that you lived anywhere near here, there was nothing that you could do.”

“I-I know, but I wish that I could have done something, anything, to have stopped you from dying, from going through those awful moments,” Patton was still crying, “knowing that there was no way to help you doesn’t make me feel any less guilty.”

“If it’s any consolation, you have already done more than my parents did,” I said, trying to find anything to help comfort my apparent soulmate.

“W-what do you mean? How could I have possibly done more than your parents?” Patton asked, sounding very concerned.

“Well, my parents didn’t really accept me for being gay, they kicked me out, and that’s when I moved out into this apartment, I didn’t have enough money to go to college-” I was cut off by a sob.

“Virgil, I’m so, so, sorry,” Patton sobbed.

“I’m ok, I didn’t need them, although, it was a bit disappointing for them to not show up to my funeral,” I could feel my eyes watering, god, I was such a baby.

“Th-they didn’t go to your funeral? Like, at all?” Patton started crying harder, and then the dam broke and I was sobbing too.

“NO! WHY DIDN’T THEY COME? I know that they didn’t like the fact that I liked guys, but is that really a reason to miss your own child’s funeral?” I couldn't hold back anymore.

“Y-you said that you could hold a physical form, right? Can you do that right now?” Patton asked, still crying.

“U-um y-yeah I can t-try,” I replied shakily, my voice refusing to work correctly. I focused on making my body physical, mainly focusing on things I should be able to touch from where I was sitting. The couch, the blanket my leg was resting on, the arm behind me. Eventually, I felt the couch underneath me, I must’ve looked different too, because Patton tackled me into a hug. It felt… nice…

We stayed like that, in a hug for a long time, I think I drifted off at some point, because I woke up when I was removed from my comfortable spot with Patton when he got up to answer the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hah shirtless anxiety being tackled by patton, hmmm smut? 
> 
> jkjk
> 
> as an asexual, i couldn't even begin to try to write that lolol
> 
> but that wont stop me from writing cuddles


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow, writing this took way less time then I would have expected lol

It had been a bad day. I couldn’t concentrate on school, all I could think about was Dee, and the mysterious ghost soulmate, of which I only got to see for a second.

It was hard to take it all in, the fact that one of my soulmates was a ghost, the fact that he was dead, the fact that he died in the place he was meant to feel safe. In his own home, in his own room.

It hurt, knowing that my soulmate needed me, and that I was nowhere near them. The fact that I basically let them die, even though there was no way for me to have helped, it didn’t make me feel less helpless.

I wanted to always be there for my soulmates, always be able to help them, but I didn’t even get to meet one before they were ripped away from me. Ripped away from all of us. Just like that. We had no chance to connect with them. It’s so painful to think about.

Me and Logan, ahem, Logan and I, were going out for lunch that day. Patton said he just wanted to stay home, and told us to just hang out the two of us. We invited Dee, but he said he was busy. Remus and Remy were on a platonic outing, and Emile had classes, so it ended up just being us.

We went to a cafe, but not the one that was only a couple blocks away from our house, this one was closer to our university. We sat quietly for a moment before I spoke up.

“Have you been thinking about Virgil too?” I can’t help but question.

“Yes, I have,” Logan sighs, “I wish there was something we could have done to help him, but now we can’t really do anything, I can’t think of a way to help him, no matter how hard I try.”

I could tell that this was probably tearing him apart as it was me. “I really wish there was anything we could even possibly do to make it even a little better for him,” I said, not really having any plans on how to do it.

“Did… Did he look familiar to you too?” Logan asked, his voice basically unreadable, although, I bet Patton could have read his tone.

“Yeah, he did, but I couldn’t put my finger on where I had seen him before, maybe a story on the news a few years back? But, it felt like I had seen him more recently than that,” I was becoming more and more confused about Virgil.

“Yes, that is how I felt as well, do you think that it is at all possible that we have seen him before, like, in person?” Logan asked, what a strange question, how would it have been possible for us to have seen a ghost in person- oh, I had figured it out.

“You think that he is the one in our apartment?” I asked.

“Yes, I mean, how likely is it that there is another haunted apartment in our complex, and as he looked familiar, we all had our own experiences with seeing them, so it would make sense for him to be familiar with him, as we had seen him, even if it was just a glimpse,” Logan stated. I had to admit, it _did_ make sense.

“That is… very nerdy, you nerd, but, it does make sense… wait, do you think that Patton already figured it out, and that’s why he wanted to stay home?” I found myself putting some pieces together.

“Maybe, it is a possibility, but, if Patton wanted to talk to him alone, it would be for the best if we let him. Instead of worrying, why don’t we go have some fun?” Logan asked, looking a bit cheeky.

“As long as what you are considering to be fun isn’t going to a library,” I laughed.

“Oh, come on Roman, have a little more faith in me, please,” he smiled cheekily. 

“Oh? What did you have in mind?” I asked.

Laser tag. He had laser tag in mind **(no this is not because I read like 8 shippy laser tag fics in the past few days and wanted that in my story, I don’t know what you’re talking about)** We went to a laser tag place not far from the cafe we were at. Apparently he had been planning on taking me for weeks, and knew Patton would not like the idea of shooting people, even if it wouldn’t hurt them, so he knew he would have to take me by myself. God, he is such a sweetheart, even if he never shows it.

For some reason, he really wanted to be on opposite teams, so we were in a group of random people, we were on different teams. Then he did something completely out of the blue for Logan, he made a bet with me.

His bet was who ever won could take the other on any date they liked, and the loser had to go along with it. The others could tag along if they wanted to, but the loser had to go.

I was fairly sure that he just wanted to make me go to the library with him, although I was sure I was going to beat him, I could let him have his fun.

We got into the arena, and didn’t see each other at all for a while, but then, he found me. He put his gun to my back, and then, my teammate shot him. We won.

I high fived the teammate who shot him, and me and Logan left the arcade.

“I had a feeling you would win, although, having your teammate to be the one to shoot me was a surprise,” Logan said, no hint of disappointment in his voice, I was confused, before I realized that it was all a scheme to bring my thoughts away from Virgil. “I’m sure that whatever date you plan will be most enjoyable, am I correct?”

“Ah yes, we will have a splendid time together, my dear sir,” I replied, copying Logan's tone.

“I am sure we will, good sir,” Logan joked, copying my ‘dramatic’ hand movements that I picked up from my years of theater.

We laughed as we made our way home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay maybe i did want to try writing a laser tag date, lol, but like, can you blame me? they are so hecking cute yall, and i am trying so hard to spend as much time away from dee hanging out with gostie boy and patton, plus, i focus way too much on virgil, there are other character in this fic, emile hasn't even spoken like at all yet and i am 12 chapters in, holy heck
> 
> he will hopefully come into the story soon, and we will hopefully stop spending all of our time with virgil... ok who am i kidding, that is not going to happen, at least not in this fic


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its short, but I had too much to do today to write a full length chapter (I may have been a little lazy, but oh well)

I ventured into Virgil’s apartment, only to look in surprise where Virgil was snuggled up on the couch, shirtless, and a little more than half asleep.

“Dee! Dude, why are you here again?” Virgil asked, sleep still slurred, as he stretched.

“Why are you shirtless?” I asked back, and he blinked, and then, seemed to actually wake up.

“OH MY- I- uh- I forgot that I didn’t have my shirt on, uhh-” Virgil stammered, and then stood up, and closed his eyes, he didn’t say anything for a second, and then he was in a hoodie, he had never been able to change his appearance before, so I was wondering what kind of magic Patton had pulled on the anxious ghoul boy.

“How did you do that, Ghostie?” I asked, mimicking Remus’s tone.

“Patton taught me how to use a fundamental for of my existence, common sense, honestly should have figured it out when I made the blood disappear, but I am dumb,” Virgil laughed, and the realization hit me.

“Ooh, I should have figured that out sooner too, I guess we are both dumb,” I laughed as well.

“Now, I don’t want to hear either of my beautiful and intelligent soulmates talk bad about themselves, they are perfect and not dumb!” Patton insisted.

“Does that mean…?” I asked, wondering if that meant Virgil knew then.

“Yeah, I know that I’m your soulmate, I guess. It is kinda weird, and why didn’t you tell me?” Virgil didn’t sound mad, like I thought he would, he sounded honestly curious.

“Well, I didn’t know that you didn’t know for a while, and then, I didn’t know if you would believe me, and I didn’t want to scare you off…” I trailed off, feeling a bit ashamed, but then, I felt someone punch my arm.

“Come on, Dee, you’ll never scare me off, dude, I am literally a ghost, if I didn’t scare you off, there is no way I’m being scared off,” Virgil laughed, and then we heard the door open, and Virgil immediately jumped, and went transparent on instinct.

“Well, I guess some things do scare you off, huh,” I mumbled, almost inaudible, and I didn’t think anyone heard me before I felt a light slap to my arm.

“Hey, Patty, how are you dearest? OH! Dee, I didn’t expect you to be here today! Is that why Patton didn’t want to go out with us?” Roman asked as he came in.

“Roman, dear, I think you surprised them,” Logan sighed.

“Ah, I apologize, how are you doing, Dee?”

“Oh, I am doing well, how about you, you and Logan went out, am I correct?” I replied, and almost snorted as I saw Virgil appear behind Logan and Roman, and I think Patton had the same reaction, as his smile grew, but we were able to keep it together.

“Ah yes, we had a lovely time,” Logan replied, “or at least, I hope Roman had a good time, because I know that I quite enjoyed it.”

Roman was about to say something when Virgil reached out and flipped the light switch. Roman flipped around and was met by Virgil, who looked him straight (gay) in the eye, and said “Boo.”

Roman and Logan screamed. And I mean _screamed_. They were so high pitched that I felt bad for all the dogs that heard them. Virgil burst out laughing right before me and Patton did. Roman was clinging to Logan, who was almost completely white.

“WHO IS IN OUR HOUSE?” Roman screamed.

“Ah, you may know me as Virgil,” Virgil replied, calmly.  
‘  
“Virgil? The ghost?” Roman asked, trying to comprehend the situation.

“No, Virgil the taxidermist,” Virgil asked, sarcastically. “Of course, Virgil the ghost.”

Logan sighed, “I apologize for reacting like that, Virgil, you caught me off guard,” Logan apologized, seeming to have gained his composure.

Virgil wandered over to me, leaning on me, that hecking precious bean. “Nah, don’t apologize, I’m used to it, scared people even when I was alive, I’ve always been kinda quiet.”

“That doesn’t excuse me for being rude,” Logan replied, eyeing Virgil leaning on me suspiciously, “I was unaware that you could touch people?” Logan questioned.

“Eh, sometimes I can’t, sometimes I can,” Virgil replied.

“Interesting, would you mind if I asked you a few questions?” Logan asked.

“I don’t see why not,” Virgil answered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tbh after last chapter, all i want to do is write dates, like, just cute little dates, but it wouldn't line up with the story ;-; i will be writing more date chapters in the near future, tho, because they are so incredibly fun to write


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shit bro, it's like almost 2 am where i am as posting this, i didn't even start writing the chapter until after midnight, its kinda strange, because I was looking forward to writing this chapter, but i guess i was just having an off day, oh well

I would be lying if I said that seeing Virgil lean up against Dee wasn’t objectively adorable, but it did raise some questions, as I had been under the influence that ghosts were intangible, and seeing him lean up against our soulmate seemed to put an end to that belief.

“I was unaware that you could touch people?” I asked, wondering out loud. 

Virgil shrugged. “Eh, sometimes I can’t, sometimes I can,” he said.

“Interesting, would you mind if I asked you a few questions?” I asked on instinct.

“I don’t see why not,” Virgil answered.

Patton looked at me for a second. “Make sure not to overwhelm him, please?” Patton asked.

“I will try my best not to, but that will only be possible if you tell me if I am overwhelming you, will that be possible?” I ask, turning my attention back to Virgil, who looks up at me surprised.

“Uhh, I’ll uhh try?” Virgil responded, not really sounding sure of himself.

“Why don’t we take this to my room?” I suggested, and Virgil nodded.

We went into my room, and I sat down at my desk, and motioned towards my bed, gesturing for Virgil to sit. He did.

“So…” Virgil said, obviously feeling awkward.

“Yes, would you mind explaining what exactly you mean when you say that you can, and can’t, physically touch people?” I asked, wanting to start off small with my questions.

“Well, I can shift between a more physical and less physical form. Although it doesn’t take much energy to hold either form, or really any at all, it is really draining to shift between the two of them.” Virgil answered.

“Just wondering, what is the point of keeping a non physical form?” I asked.

“Well, it is easier to go undetected in a non physical form, and teleportation… or whatever it is… is a lot more easy in a non physical form,” Virgil answered, “actually, most ‘ghost abilities’ are easiest to use while in a non physical form, but wanting to pass as a human basically requires for one to restraint themselves in a physical form.”

“Ah…” I replied, watching him, suddenly overcome with the urge to touch him, how strange.

“I know that look,” Virgil sighed, “you can touch me, I won't be overly offended, but I appreciate you not just reaching out and touching me, it is very considerate.”

I nodded, and got up to walk over to him. I made my way to the bed and sat down next to him. I reached out and grabbed his hand. He squeezed my hand, and I squeezed back, for some reason. We sat in silence for a while before I had the strange, and uncalled for, urge to embrace him. I looked at him, and he looked back before I scooted closer and he gave me a questioning look. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. He tensed, but then leaned into me, and I wrapped my arm around his stomach. He leaned his head on my shoulder, and we sat like that for a while.Eventually, we shifted, and Virgil ended up halfway on my chest as we lay. I felt my mind slipping away, and I started to drift off. I felt Virgil go limp, and I followed him quickly into the land of unconsciousness.

I woke up to a squeal, and looked up to see Patton ‘fan girling?’ in the doorway into our room, and Roman and Dee snapping pictures, and then I realized what was happening. I looked down and saw that Virgil was still sleeping against my chest.

“Shh, you are going to wake him,” I whisper hissed.

Patton slowly made his way over to my bed, and looked at me expectantly. I opened up my arm and allowed Patton to crawl into my grasp. Roman pulled Dee and climbed onto the bed, putting in between him and Virgil, pulling into his arms. It just felt… right… having all of my soulmates with me, in my bed, all comfortable, although, in Dee’s case, it looked like he was going to explode from how red he was. It felt right to have us all here, safe together. I felt very content with where I was, and found myself drifting off again, listening to all the breathing.

I burst awake with a start when I felt shaking against my side. I looked down to see Virgil, eyes tightly closed, and tears spilling down his face. I extracted myself from Patton’s arm, and pulled Virgil out of my room and into the ‘family room’, sitting us down in the couch, sitting him on my lap, rubbing circles into his back, and whispering calming words into his ear.

We sat like that for a while, neither of us moving from our spots, the only thing moving was my hand on his back. We sat like that for lord knows how long. Then, Virgil opened his eyes, and looked up at me. His eyes were filled with fear for a moment, but only a moment, as they softened, and he buried himself back into my chest. If it hadn’t been for the cold, I would have forgotten the fact that the boy on my lap was no longer alive.

Pain twanged through my chest as I reached out and grabbed Patton’s blanket off the couch, throwing it over the two of us. If only there was some way to have saved Virgil, then I wouldn’t have had to have been holding a ghost on my lap, but instead holding a living, breathing, person. We could have shared this moment, and he could have been alive. I was taller than him, as I was the tallest out of all of us, and Virgil was probably the shortest, followed by Patton and Dee, who were close to the same height, so as I towered over Virgil, I realized that he was, in fact, years older than the rest of us. He was probably somewhere near 25 or 26, whereas the rest of us were in our very early twenties. I leaned down and pressed a kiss to his head on instinct, and he shifted to look up at me in surprise, but only for a moment before his head was buried into my chest again, and all was once again still and calm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just wanted some cute analogical cuddles man, and i did it, and it wasn't all that angsty, and now all i wanna do is make there some way for ghoul boy to become a human again so our ghostie boy can cuddle with his soulmates with out sucking the heat out of them and sending them into chills. if he becomes a human again, it's only so that i can write human normal cuddles, that is literally the only reason, no story purposes, just for the fluff, because as much as i love to write angst, i also love to write fluff, and at this point, i have bullied virgil way to much


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> imma be real, i have no clue what im doing with this story anymore.

I woke up, and Logan and Virgil were gone, and I had shifted over into Dee’s grasp. I snuck out into the family room, and saw Virgil and Logan on the couch, sleeping peacefully, with Virgil sitting on Logan’s lap. If I had to guess what happened, I would have guessed that Virgil got overwhelmed with all the people around him, and Logan got him out of there.

I smiled to myself, and started working on breakfast as quietly as possible. I worked by himself for a while, when suddenly, Virgil appeared behind me.

“Hey, Patt,” he quietly said.

“Hey, Ghoul Boy,” I quietly replied, and Ghoul Boy groaned, “did you sleep well?” 

“I slept fine, Logan is really comfortable,” Virgil laughed, and I smiled, glad that the shy ghost was warming up to us. “Something weird happened, though.”

“Hm? What happened?” I asked, getting a bit worried.

“I think Logan kissed the top of my head, and then, my head, it felt… warm,” Virgil said, “it was the first bit of any temperature that I had felt since I died.”

I was shocked. “Really? Do you have any idea why that happened?” I asked.

“Nope, it may have something to do with the fact that he is my soulmate,” Virgil guessed.

“Hmm, interesting, I would like to experiment,” I said, impersonating Logan, before pulling Virgil over to my chest, and kissed his cheek. Virgil’s eyes widened for a second, and then he put his hand to his cheek.

“It’s warm, Patton! It’s warm!” Virgil laughed, and I couldn’t help holding him into my chest as we laughed together.

Then, Logan was awake, and questioning what was happening with us in the kitchen. I grabbed Logan and pulled him into the hug, before kissing him on the lips. He was confused, but he kissed me back and then, we just kinda stood in the hug for a while, before Logan pulled away.

“As much as I enjoy physical affection, can I know what is the reason for all of it?” Logan asked.

“You know how you kissed Virgil last night?” I asked.

Logan blushed. “Uh, yeah?”

“Well, it caused Virgil to feel heat for the first time since he died,” clapped.

“Hm? Do you think that it is because we are soulmates?” Logan questioned.

“That is what I thought, and Patton decided to kiss me again to find out, and I believe that that would be the reason,” Virgil answered.

“Would you mind if I experimented a bit?” Logan asked, and Virgil nodded, before Logan pulled Virgil over to hip, looked him in the eyes, and kissed him on the lips. It wasn’t a long kiss, merely a peck, but it left Virgil wide eyed. He hugged himself before pulling Logan into a tight hug.

“Logan! I feel heat all over my body, instead of just where you kissed me!” he cried.

“Hmm, that is very interesting,” Logan muttered.

Then I noticed it. Virgil looked more physical, he was way less see through than he was before. I was about to say something, but at that moment, Roman walked into the room, with a tired looking Dee trailing behind him.

They came to the kitchen looking a bit curious.

“We found out that Virgil can feel heat again if we kiss him,” Logan explained, before Dee rushed past him, and kissed Virgil on the lips. Their kiss was not the small peck that Logan and Virgil’s was. It was a bit more passionate, it seemed as though he had been waiting to kiss the emo ghostie boy for years. 

They broke the kiss, and Virgil seemed even more visible, they were both laughing. Logan looked on with a smile on his face, as did Roman. It seemed that I was the only one who noticed that Virgil was becoming more visible. 

I pulled Virgil into my arms again, and kissed him on the lips, watching as he became more visible with a smile on my face. Then I realized it. The chill that followed him was a large amount smaller than it was earlier in the morning.

I had to send them out, though, as I needed to finish making breakfast, and so I sent them all to the couch, and continued to work on breakfast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, i think that this story is going to come to an end soon, i think that with the way it's going now, it would be good to end this sooner rather than later, as the story that i wanted to tell has been told, i would say to only expect three of four more chapters in this book


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My charger came today, so I should be back to uploading regularly
> 
> TW: Descriptions of abuse, guns, abusive relationships/parents, death, guns

Everyone was so happy, Virgil was laughing, cuddling into Dee, Logan was sitting next to me, leaning into my side, and then, Patton came in, probably to tell us that breakfast was ready, and Dee stopped laughing, as did Virgil. 

“Uhm, before we go get food,” Dee started, quietly, “um, there is something we need to talk about.” He finished and Virgil cuddled closer into Dee, whispering into his ear.

“If we need to talk about something, please, enlighten us, because I’m sure it will eat up at us if we put it off,” Logan said, turning his body to face Dee and Virgil as Patton sits on the other side of me.

“Yes, please don’t keep us in the dark, I would rather know now over later, in case we are doing something to upset you,” Patton called, anxiety clear in his voice.

“Oh, no!” Dee quickly shut Patton down. “It’s nothing like that, it's just something you deserve to know, is all.”

“We are not going to judge you, if you are worried about that,” Logan stated.

“No, again, I just think that you all should know, other than Virgil, who has known for a while, seeing as I’ve known him longer.”

“Well, please, tell us what your heart desires us to know,” I called to him, dramatically, if anything to lighten the mood.

Virgil and Dee snort, and then Dee begins. “So, you know how my dad owns the apartment complex, right?” Dee asked, but didn’t wait for us to respond. “Well, technically, that is a lie. My uncle owns the apartment building, my dad is dead.”

“Oh, Dee, I’m so sorry,” Patton starts, moving over to where Dee and Virgil were sitting enveloping both into a tight embrace.

“No, I barely remember him, and it’s not like he was ever there for me. He was an alcoholic, and didn’t really take care of me, my mom did, when he was home, they were just arguing a lot, or at least at first.”

Patton audibly gasped, seeming to know what was coming next, and hugged our two soulmates harder.

“He started to hit my mom when he was especially mad. She would have called the police, and gotten me and her out of the house, out of that abusive relationship, if I wasn’t constantly being used as bait, if she went to go grab a phone, or something, then he would pull me away from where ever I was and hit me, or hold a knife to me, telling her that he would kill me if she even tried, so she didn’t.” Dee was visibly crying, Logan was pushing further into my side, hiding his face in my chest, Virgil was hugging closer into Dee, whispering in his ear again, and Patton was audibly trying to hold back sobs.

“When I was alone with my dad in the house, he would call me ugly, mistake, whore, and other things, it was hard to deal with, even though I was only about five at the time. It got so bad that at one point, I considered killing myself, as a five year old, mind you, so that dad didn’t have to hate me, and mom was no longer trapped with him. It stayed like that for a while, until one day. He came home really drunk, and immediately started fighting with my mom, I hid when I heard him come in, and I’m really glad now that I did. I had stolen my mom’s phone, in an attempt to maybe call the police if he got physical again. He did, he pulled out a gun, illegally bought, and shot my mom. He started to look for me as I called the cops. I was very lucky to not have been found, probably because he was too drunk to actually function, and the police made it in time to save me. Unfortunately for him, he was too drunk to function, and tried to resist arrest by threatening to shoot the officers, and actually trying, missing, but trying, which resulted in him getting shot to death in a gunfight with the police.”

All of this was very hard to process, but I was very glad Dee had gotten out of there.

“My uncle adopted me,” Dee said, with a small smile on his face, “and that leads me to what I wanted to tell you all.”

I was confused, this wasn’t about his past, or like telling us something to avoid doing around him?

“Dee isn’t my name, as you may have already guessed, it is a nickname, stemming off of ‘Deceit,’ something I called myself in middle school when I started compulsively lying, although that has stopped now, my real name is Janus.”

“Do you want us to call you Janus now?” I heard myself ask.

“No, please don’t,” Dee quickly interjected, “I don’t like being called Janus, it keeps me from thinking about my real parents, separates me from that part of my life, I just wanted to let you all know.”

“Ok, Dee, thank you for telling us, that was very brave of you,” Patton said, beaming with pride.

Virgil snorts. “I told you that you were brave, doofus,” He laughs, and Dee halfheartedly punches his arm.

“Ow, rud-” Virgil stopped himself, his eyes widened. “Punch me again.”

“Wha-?”

“Punch me again, please?”

Dee punched him, and Virgil started to tear up. “Dee, I felt that, and it hurt!” he cried.

Dee looked apologetic, before a look of realization crossed his face, and he grabbed Virgil kissing him. I was confused for a second, before it hit me, and I got up, and kissed Virgil right on the lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> first upload in a while, it had to be some good angst, also, you may not understand the cliff hanger, but I do! Next chapter is gonna be fun to write


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehehehehehe

Everything was warm again, but only for a second, then everything hurt, so, so, bad. I cried out in pain, squeezing my eyes shut. If I had kept them open even a second longer, I would have noticed how my body began to glow, but I kept them shut out of pain. I heard the gasps from my soulmates before I toppled over, writhing in pain. I stopped hearing anything after a few moments, unable to focus on anything but the pain. I thought I felt a pair of arms underneath me, but I couldn’t tell from all the pain in my body. Then, everything was calm, there was no pain, no feelings, just me, alone, in a room, a void, of nothingness. There was no fear, or anger. There was no sadness, or anguish. There was no love, or compassion, or happiness, or excitement. There was just me, alone.

I felt nothing, I didn’t know who I was. I didn’t remember anything, I didn’t need to. All was calm, I floated effortlessly, all was quiet, the loudness of my thoughts deafened by the silence, all was as it was meant to be. Nobody but me to care, to hurt. It was how it was meant to be, or was it. Something felt off about the calm, the quiet, like something was missing, but my mind was too blank, too empty, to figure out what I was missing. I relished in the dark, empty void that surrounded me, letting all feelings go. It was how it was meant to be.

The darkness that enveloped me parted a bit, and showed me an image. It was like an out of body experience. There were people on a couch, crowded around a body, they were all crying, grasping onto the body, wait no, that was me, grasping onto me, and each other. They sobbed. My body was fading in and out of existence, slowly disappearing. A few of them seemed to be begging. Who were they, why did they care about that tiny, insignificant body? I stopped myself, Patton would have probably killed me if he had heard me say that. Wait, Patton? Who was Patton? Why would they care? Why did I care?

I looked back up to see my body staying almost completely tangible for a few moments, before fading again. I saw one of the people look up, around the room. Dee was still wearing that stupid snake necklace I gave him. It made me happy. My body was tangible for a second, and the boy with the snake necklace looked almost directly at me, I felt my eyes widen, could he see me? He continued to sweep the room. 

I was so confused. Logan was squeezing my hand. Who was that person squeezing my hand? My thoughts were so conflicting, I couldn’t keep a congruent thought line. Roman looked sad. I didn’t know any Romans? Logan was trying to say something. Why was that person talking so quickly? Patton was sobbing, clutching onto my hoodie. How rude of someone to be touching my prized hoodie without my permission. I was getting closer and farther away from the screen, never really going anywhere, but my position changing as rapidly as my thoughts. I was trying so hard to concentrate on these people to figure out why they card so much. I was trying to look away, close my eyes, I couldn’t stand seeing the people I loved like that.

What was happening?

Why did I want to scream?

Who was I?

Suddenly, it hit me again, sending burning pains through my chest. I was Virgil. I wanted to scream out to my soulmates, tell them that I was still there. I was in the process of being judged, seeing if my connection to Earth, to my soulmates, was too strong for me to move on. I realized that my knowing probably meant that I was no longer being judged, and that I would either move on, be born into a new body, or stick around on Earth, maybe with a new life, stay until my soulmates died, and then move on with the rest of them. I remembered before this life as well. The reason I was older than the rest of my soulmates, I died and moved on, was reborn, before the rest of them, and lived without any of the memories that we made together.

Remembering things as they were then hurt, because it meant that I may have to live remembering everything that the others couldn’t, or I would move onto another life, just to forget again as being gifted a newborn brain. I wanted to cry as the screen disappeared. I was fairly sure I knew that it meant. It meant that I was moving on, leaving my soulmates alone. It meant that I had to forget again. Maybe I was cursed to have to go through this again and again, maybe I would just die again and again, leave my soulmates behind. I was cursed, wasn’t I.

I saw a light, felt it pulling me. I fought back against it with all my might. I didn’t want to leave them again. I couldn’t leave my loves alone. I needed to stay with them. I couldn’t do that to them again. They needed me. I needed them. If I moved on, it would all happen again. I fought back. I needed at least one life where I got to stay with my soulmates. One life that was enjoyed by us being together, not having me torn away, again and again. They needed me. I refused to be ripped away. I refused, and fought with all I could, but with all of my fighting, I was still moving slowly towards the light.

As I moved closer, I remembered soft times in previous lives. Sitting together underneath a tree. Staring at the stars. Sitting in the audience, watching as my loves performed. All of us on a bed, in the dark, sharing secrets. Living together in a cottage in the woods. Healing together. 

With great sorrow, I watched helplessly as I was pulled into the light, and then into darkness. I felt an extreme coldness, and then warmth. I was out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmmm, what is going to become of our little soulmates? are they destined to always be pulled apart? is Virgil cursed? who knows? _I definitely dont_ ;)


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uhhhh, yeah, this is a chapter... maybe

Bah bah bah, im a fcking baby

Jkjk

**Uhhhhh i have no plans for this chapter, lets just make it up as I go!**

**hnnnnngggg im having problems**

**I am literally struggling, how can I keep you from immediately getting the information you want??**

Roman kissed Virgil on the lips, and I realized a second before it happened, Roman was the last of us to kiss our Ghoul Boy. Virgil smiled for a second, but only a second before he gasped, and started glowing.

He cried out in pain, collapsing to the floor. He was writhing, and we… **I can’t, I wont be able to make a chapter out of this, what do I do?????**

**~~~~TIME SKIP BROUGHT BY MY LITERAL INCAPABILITY TO WRITE THIS CHAPTER~~~~**

Virgil disappeared, not like he was before, where he would disappear and reappear in no particular pattern, he was gone. We waited for a few moments to see if he would return, then a few moments turned into a minute, and a minute turned into a few minutes, and then, we had been standing there watching to see if he would return for twenty minutes. I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I collapsed to the ground sobbing.

Logan was immediately by my side, holding onto me. I could tell he was crying too, if just silently. Roman hugged me too. Dee just… stood there… looking at the couch where our soulmate had disappeared with an unreadable expression. What I wanted to do more than anything in that moment, was to reach out, and to grab onto him, and Virgil, for that matter, hold onto him, and never let him go. Comfort him forever, let him know that everything was going to be ok.

But would everything be ok? Our soulmate was gone, we didn’t know where, but we didn’t think he was coming back. We would forever be without a major part of us. I started sobbing harder, and that is what broke Dee out of his seeming trance. He looked over at me for a second, and ran over to me, embracing me tightly, and sobbing into my chest.

It was a soft moment for all of us. I think that we stayed on the floor like that for hours, as the sun started to set, and Logan finally broke free from our pile of cuddles.

“As much as I would like to sit here forever holding all of you, we still need to take care of ourselves, and that includes eating. We need to make food,” Logan’s tone was that emotionless robotic type that he took on when he was overwhelmed, by emotions, or otherwise.

I also got up. “I’ll help you make food, I am still probably the best cook.”

Roman moved to take my spot, holding Dee, because Dee was probably hit the hardest by this sudden loss, as he had known Virgil for years.

Dee didn’t make any movements at all, letting everyone else moving around move him. He just sat there with a blank stare. Roman pulled him into his chest and ran his fingers through his hair while whispering into his ear, probably trying to comfort the broken man anyway he could.

Me and Logan made our way to the kitchen and started preparing pasta, one of the easiest meals to make. We didn’t get very far, though, because while making it, I started shaking again, and tears fell down my face. Logan noticed, and moved over to comfort me, wrapping his arms around my waist and leaning over to whisper barely audible reassurances into my ear. I leaned back into his chest and relished in the warmth that it brought over. Warmth that Virgil never got to experience. I was crying harder, and barely registered that Logan had brought me back over to Dee and Roman, leaving me to their hands before leaving to finish making us food.

We sat silently for a while. The only sound being Logan in the kitchen, and my hiccups from trying to breathe after sobbing so much. We all leaned into each other, using one another for comfort, silently praying that Virgil was well, wherever he was.

Dee moved again, suddenly, his first movements since we all gathered on the floor. He stood up, grabbed my blanket off the couch, threw it over us, and climbed practically into my lap, pretty much shoving me into Roman in the process.

We sat like that for an undetermined amount of time before Logan came back, carrying the pasta in a big bowl, setting it down on the coffee table, and slowly moving me and Dee over to the couch to sit not on the floor. When he did, Roman got up, and also sat on the couch, and then Logan joined.

We sat, I stared at the bowl of food, as it had been basically discarded seeing as none of us had an appetite. Logan looked down to his arm, he moved his sleeve out of the way, most likely to look at his soulmark, maybe to trace it like he does sometimes, but who knows, because before he got the chance to, he gasped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it's short, I just have this thing where I love suspense, it's great, keep you on your toes, its fun, especially since i know what happens, but writing this was a struggle, because i couldn't focus on it, and had no idea how to keep up the suspensefulness, decided not to, and then realized how i could! it was so great when I was writing, about to make the reveal, and realized what I could do, it washed over me like waves that try to drown me at the beach.


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this whol chapter... idk...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this whol chapter... idk...

**Wow, I’m mid mental breakdown right now because I got caught in a fic that didn’t have the major character death archive warning, but had a major character die, and I have half a mind to just screw the ending that I had planned, and just… idk…**

**I probably won't, but we’ll see**

I stared at my arm, I gasped at what I saw. The swirling garden that was full of color not even 24 hours ago, was missing colors, missing some of its parts, it was no longer complete. I racked my brain to figure out why it was no longer full of color, why it was incomplete. It then hit me, and it hit me hard.

It was because Virgil was gone. It wasn’t complete because part of it just vanished. It was incomplete because… I was incomplete. I wasn’t full without the anxious Ghoul Boy. None of us were. Were we cursed to be partially missing forever? I had never heard of marks regressing when soulmates died, they always stayed full. So why was mine missing it’s parts? Was it because Virgil was gone now forever? Was it because Virgil was replaced?!

Or was it because Virgil is out there somewhere, alone, and we need to find him again? Is this all just a sign to tell us that he is still out there?

I was so lost in my mind that I didn’t hear the others worried call until I felt someone pulling my arm away. I finally looked up, and was met by the tearful, frightened faces of my remaining soulmates. I tried, and probably failed, to keep my voice even as I spoke.

“Can you all please look at your soulmarks, if it is possible for you to see them?” I asked, cautiously.

Patton reached down, pulling up his pant leg, and also gasped. As I had suspected, it was no longer full, there were parts missing, just as it was on my arm.

**this is where i panic bc i forgot if i said where romans and dees were, and started to look back through every chapter**

**wooo it only took me like 20 minutes to find where i had put them!._.-.-**

Roman looked at his wrist, and Dee moved to look at his chest. They had the same reaction that me and Pat had. **can you tell im getting lazy?**

Roman was the first to speak. “Does this mean that Virgil is gone?”

“Does it mean he was replaced?”Patton gasped.

Dee continued to sit silently.

“I believe that it could be either of those,” Patton sobbed, and Roman visibly deflated, “ _OR_ that Virgil is still out there somewhere, waiting for us to find him again.”

Dee spoke up for the first time. “Do you really think that we could find him again?” He sounded so defeated, it was heartbreaking. I pulled him over to me, and embraced him in a tight hug, as if it could bring our Ghoul Boy back.

“Yes, I do really think that we can find him again. Have any of you heard of people having their soulmarks regress when their soulmates die? Because I haven’t. Soulmates can’t just ‘be replaced’, that's not how it works. I think that soulmates follow us through lifetimes. That everytime they die, they get thrown into a new life, or are forced to wait for the others to follow, because fate wants us to be together, and will force us to be together in any way it can. It can’t just replace him, and if he was really gone forever, then our marks would have stayed the same. I truly believe that we still have a chance to find him again.”

“It does make sense,” Roman muttered.

Patton threw himself at me and Dee. “Did you hear that, Dee? We can still find him!”

“Maybe…” Dee muttered out, sounding a little less defeated.

“Hey, why don’t we all get up, watch a movie, eat some, and snuggle, and tomorrow we can make a game plan, how does that sound?” Patton suggested, mainly at Dee.

“That sounds… fun…” Dee responded, to the joy of Patton.

“It does sound enjoyable,” I added.

“Enjoyable? It sounds delightful, Patton,” Roman called, very dramatically.

So that’s what we did. We sat on the couch, ate the food that I prepared, and watched movies. Roman was correct, it was delightful. At some point we switched from regular movies, to terrible straight people movies, Patton made us popcorn, which was subsequently thrown at the television while we made fun of the movies. It was altogether an amazing night.

Eventually, we all fell asleep, holding each other tightly.

**I'm currently eating ice cream with a fork right now, i really dont know what my life has come to**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyyyy, so our ghoul boy may still be around, yay, also, with the next chapter, im going to be deleting the authors notes because they dont really need to be here anymore, they dont really have any reason to exist anymore lololol


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this is a really lazy last chapter lolol.

I woke up, and there were a plethora of people around me. Everything hurt, and I didn’t recognise anyone or anything. My memory was very hazy, the only thing I remembered were flashes of faces, with no names, and the faces were gone as soon as they arrived.

I looked around, and realized that I was in a hospital, a doctor came in and started talking to me.

“Virgil Aminite, I assume that you are probably confused as to where you are and what happened, am I correct?” the doctor asked.

“Yes, I am confus….” My vocal cords betrayed me, and didn’t allow me to finish my sentence.

“Ah, speaking will probably be difficult for you for a while, you were in a car accident, it resulted in some brain damage, and the need to amputate your left leg.”

“Oh, is th…” I tried to ask why everything was so hazy, but again, I wasn’t able to finish my sentence.

“I am assuming that you are wondering if that is the cause for lack of speech, is that correct?” the doctor inquired.

I decided to keep to simple, one word sentences. “Memor…” I still couldn’t finish the word. I sighed in frustration.

“Are you having a hard time remembering things?”

“Yes,” finally I could convey what I wanted to say clearly.

“Ok, this may be a small but worse than I thought, originally. I will also try to keep my questions to yes or no, for easier conveying of the information from you. Can you remember what happened before the accident?”

“No.”

“Can you remember what you where doing the day of the accident?”

“No.”

“Can you remember anything from the week of the accident?”

“No.”

“Can you remember anything?” the doctor asked, sounding a bit exasperated, probably having been having a long day. I was probably about to make it worse.

“No.”

“Nothing at all?” the doctor sounded very concerned.

“No.”

“Hmm, we may need to keep you here for longer than we originally anticipated.”

They kept me at the hospital for a month and a half, trying to figure out what happened to my memory, all the while I had to do speech therapy and physical therapy. They eventually decided that on the impact of the crash, that I must’ve damaged my brain enough to cause long term memory loss, and that memories may come back to me as time went on. I also found out that I was the only survivor of the accident, and that we were hit head on by a drunk driver, and that I was very lucky to have survived. 

My mother and younger sister had also been in the car with me, and my dad died a few years ago due to cancer. My grandparents were all dead, and neither or my parents had siblings. I had no living relatives. Eventually I was released from the hospital after being given some basic information about myself, including where I lived, and where I worked. I knew that I would still have to go to physical therapy, but my speech was getting much better. They said that they would be worried about PTSD if I had any memories, but even though I didn’t, there was still a possibility to show symptoms.

I left the hospital, and ended up calling an uber to drive me back to my apartment.

Once I got back, I slowly made my way up the stairs, which was increasingly difficult with crutches, but my complex was rather small, and I was only on the third of three stories. I eventually made it up to my apartment. I got inside and collapsed onto the couch, and turned on the television. It was the news, and I didn’t really feel like watching that, soI ended up reading instead. I read for a while, until I felt myself growing drowsy, and I let myself fall asleep.

My sleep started off dreamless, but that quickly changed. 

_It was dark, and I was walking alone, headed home after another late shift. I worked at a small 24 hour convenience store, and found myself continuously working the graveyard shift, way too often in my opinion, but I needed the extra money now. I walked quickly, speeding down the sidewalk, it felt like something awful was going to happen, but I was probably just being paranoid, I hoped I was just being paranoid._

_Everything felt off as I walked the streets that I knew by heart, and walked passed every day coming home from work. It was too loud, but also way too quiet. It felt like a sign from above that something was wrong, I wish I had listened._

_I wasn’t in a hurry that day, despite how I was acting, so I ducked into a cafe I knew well and ordered a small muffin and some tea to get my mind off the strange feeling I had about going home. I waited quietly for my order, and ate quietly. The people here always made the best muffins, and were always so nice.After I ate, I quietly continued home._

_I lived in a three bedroom apartment on the west side of New York City. I had two roommates who moved out recently, one moved in with his soulmate, and the other moved back home to help his sister with her new baby, so I was currently going through the process of getting new roommates, and working triple time to afford rent. My mind wandered as I made my way home, when would I get new roommates and have to stop working like triple my usual hours? What would these new people be like? Were they going to like me? Oh god, they were going to hate me!_

_I wandered up the empty staircase to my apartment. When I got to my place, I could tell something was off, my door was unlocked. I never leave my door unlocked, it makes me anxious, and my anxiety causes me to make sure that I lock the door, so I know that I didn’t just forget. I cautiously walked in._

_“Hello?” I ask quietly as I walk in. I got no response as I cautiously looked around the apartment. I started looking around the living room, and was unable to see things that seemed off, and didn't find any people._

_I then checked the kitchen next, and I saw some cups that I had thought I had put away, but that shouldn’t have been any cause of worry, I could have simply forgotten to put them away. What I did see that caused worry was the fact that my microwave door was hanging open, there was no possible way that I would have left the door open. If I was smarter I would have called the police right then and there, but I kept on moving._

_I checked the bathroom next, nothing seemed too off in there, but I barely gave it a glance, what would anyone want to steal from a bathroom?_

_I walked into one of the empty rooms, where one of my roommates used to sleep, just to see if there was anyone in there. Nobody was, so I left._

_I then walked in the room and looked around, I didn’t see anything off, and was about to leave when I felt a hand wrap around my neck and felt something poke my back. I cried out and dropped what before having a hand put over my mouth. An unsettling voice boomed from behind me._

_“You and I are going to sit here and be quiet while my buddies do their work. Right?” I felt the thing poking my back push a little harder, swallowed, and nodded._

_The other people there made quick work of taking anything relatively valuable that wouldn’t be too large to be carried by one person, my computer, my wallet, my phone, etc… The hand on my throat never left and neither did the thing poking my back, which I had begun to suspect being a gun._

_The people seemed to be done and satisfied, I assumed that they would let me go and run, I was wrong. Everyone except the guy holding onto me left, leaving a very confused me, and the guy basically choking me, alone._

_“Say goodbye, kid,” I heard from behind me, and panic began to fill my body. I screamed and fought, but I couldn’t get away. I heard a loud boom and felt great pain in my abdomen at the same time, it was clear, he had shot me. He let me go and I fell to the floor, he shot me a few more times, and ran, leaving me bleeding out on the floor._

_Everything hurt, and I was screaming. I heard my neighbors banging on the door, but there was no way I would be able to get to the door, I hoped they tried the door and found that the door was unlocked. Darkness was seeping into my vision as I felt my blood seeping out of my wounds and into the floorboards. I vaguely remember hearing a male screaming for someone to call 911, and saw figures in the corner or my eye, ‘I guess they did make it in,’ was the last thing I remember thinking before the world went dark, and I was alone._

_I woke up, and felt as light as air, was I alive? Did I make it? I took some time to look around me, expecting to see a hospital, but instead, I saw my apartment, and nobody was there. Was it all a dream? The pain felt so real. I looked around, and the way the apartment had been torn apart in the robbery. Then I looked down. The first thing I saw was the blood, and the tape on the door, police tape, then I noticed the fact that I was a solid two feet off the ground. Then I saw my transparent body, and knew that I had not survived._

Whoa, what? What was that? That clearly never happened, but I remember it so vividly, but I’m clearly alive? What was happening, I was so confused.

_I was floating around my apartment, there were people everywhere taking and moving and sorting my stuff, including my old roommates, and a very interesting looking boy. Soon everyone left._

_The interesting looking boy was soon the only person left wandering in my apartment, looking through all of my things. I got fairly close to him, appearing, and he turned around. I would be lying if I said that I didn’t find him attractive. He had a lean, but muscular build, an awesome punk style, heterochromia, like me, and vitiligo. He looked right at me, and I was scared he was going to run away._

_”Hello, you can call me Dee, and who might you be?” the boy asked, sounding like he was putting on a confident front, probably doing better than me, though._

_“My-my name was? I guess… Virgil,” I replied, my voice really betraying me, making me sound like a lost child._

_Virgil? Well it's a pleasure to meet you, but it is quite the surprise, seeing as I attended your funeral a few weeks ago,” he responded. So he was at my funeral, that was strange seeing as I didn’t remember him._

_I nodded after a second. “Yeah, it was a surprise when I woke up here for me too..” I tried to joke, but it really fell flat._

_“Well, even with the unfortunate event that lead to us meeting, I’m glad that we did, and I don’t think this is going to be a one time thing, I think your interesting, and I want to know more about you, and I’m sure being a ghost must be cool,” he said, with a smile._

_“You seem cool too, I’m glad you're not scared of me,” I agreed with a smile._

_“Hmm, you're too cute and nice to be scared of,” he replied, sounding a lot more confident then he did a few minutes ago._

_“I-uhh-hngg,” I freaking squeaked, oh my god. I would have been beet red if my non existent body regulated heat. Dee laughed at me, the nerve, he knew exactly what he did._

_“Well, my dad is probably going to come back soon if I don’t catch up with him soon, but I think I want a souvenir, any recommendations?” He stated with a smile._

_I laughed, and gave him my snake necklace, “I think that this would be appropriate,” I said with another laugh._

_“Seems perfect to me, how did you know I loved snakes?” he asked with a chuckle._

_“Just a guess, my friend,” I replied with a smile, without telling him that he had multiple snake charms and pins in his person._

_We exchanged farewells, and he ran to catch up with his dad._

Dee? Why did that name feel so familiar?

_New people had just moved into my apartment, a trio of soulmates who were disgustingly cute._

_The one I believed to be named Logan took up Dev’s room, Patton took my room, and Roman took Kali’s room._

_To be honest, it was a welcomed change, it made things more interesting, made the days drag on less. They didn’t know that I was there, and I was fine with that, if they didn’t know, they wouldn’t want to move, and if they didn’t want to move, then I wouldn’t be bored all day anymore._

_I mean, Dee was always there for me, but he also had other things to do, he couldn’t constantly hang out with me, and I understood that, but it didn’t stop me from being lonely. With the new people living in my apartment, there was pretty much something going on all the time, it really made death better._

_At night, I would mostly stay in Patton's room, sometimes I would mess with his things, but that was about it. Didn’t want to scare them too much. Time went on, and a few months into the first semester for their college, or whatever, it all kinda went down._

_It was three in the morning, nobody should’ve been awake, so I took a break from being entirely transparent, and was just calmly looking over my old room, thinking about how the new person who moved in, I believe his name to be Patton, from what I had heard, decorated it in a way that looked way better than the way I had it decorated, and managed to keep it clean, unlike me, when I was broken from my trance from seeing movement out of the corner of my eye, Patton was awake. I tried to keep myself quiet, thinking he would just leave the room, and I could make myself invisible again without him even looking my way. He got up to leave, took a couple steps, but then turned to face me, just before I turned fully invisible._

Wow, uh ok, that was weird, why do all of these names feel familiar?

_I appeared in Dee’s room, he asked me to help him explain ghosts to some of his other friends, which confused me to be honest, but he said that they thought that they were being haunted, and wanted to know how to deal with ghosts. Normally I would say no, but he, and Remus, practically begged me to help, and it wasn't like I was ever going to see these people ever again, and it isn't like they can do anything to me, and it made Dee very happy, so why not just go with it._

_I got a look at my surroundings, and saw way more people than I expected, I thought 2 people at most would be over, but there were a total of 7 other people in the room. I started to panic. Why were there so many people there? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Where am I? Who are all these people? They are so familiar, but I can’t remember them? They are moving around me, and there is a hand on my throat and gun to my back, and everyone is moving._

_Why me? Why me? Where were my friends when I needed them? Why was it so loud? Everything began fading out. I needed to be alone, but I wasn’t alone, because they were there. He was there, he was there, and I needed to leave, I couldn’t leave, all of these people were moving, going in and out of the rooms, they needed to be still, and I was sinking to the ground, I was dying, again, and it was so loud, so loud. Again. Again. Again. Why me?_

_Then there weren't any people, no one was there, I was alone. No, there was the guy behind me, why was he still there? Why was I still there? What was happening? Bang, pain. Bang, pain. Bang, pain. Pain, pain pain, loud, too loud, silent. Dark and silent. The world is gone, I was gone, I was nothing. I liked this nothing, there was no pain, no fear, no death._

_But my nothing was stolen from me, as the light started seeping through my vision, and I realized that I was in the closet in the bathroom, the towel closet. I always sat in the towel closet when I was scared. When I was alive, that is, and then I wasn’t, but I wasn’t supposed to be in the towel closet, I was supposed to be meeting Dee and Remus to help their friends, what happened?_

_Then I remembered, I was going to help Dee and Re explain ghosts, and I panicked because there were too many of them moving around. Well, that went terribly._

_I sat in the closet for a while, and then I heard the door open, and close as the new tenants came home. They were all talking worriedly, and quietly among themselves, so I just stayed in the towel closet, laying back on the top shelf. I slowly fell asleep, and then after what seemed like only a few minutes, I burst awake, feeling the phantom pains of where I got shot, and headed to Dee’s apartment to see if he was home._

_I knew Dee was aware of my entrance when he came running at me, crying , forcing me to use a ton of energy to basically keep him from running into a wall._   
_“Woah there, are you ok?” I asked cautiously._

_“Are YOU ok?” he fired back, “I’m sorry I had so many people over, I forgot how you got with crowds.”_

_“It’s all good, I’m… totally fine, calm yourself, I can’t hold you up forever.”_

_“Oh, uh yeah!” Dee says, scrambling off me._

_“Who were your friends anyways?” I asked, slowly growing more curious._

_“My soulmates,” Dee replied._

_“Oh, you finally found them, that’s fantastic,” I chuckle, “How’d you find them?”_

_“Remus helped me, one of them is actually his brother, so,” Dee replied, obviously excited._

_“That's so cool, I’m really glad you found them, you deserve to be happy,” I was really excited for him, and pushed my jealousy down. “Can you tell me their names?”_

_“Hm? Oh yeah!” Dee says, still clearly excited. “Their names are Patton, Logan, and Roman,”_

_If I still had a heart, it would have stopped, and if my body still regulated heat, my face would’ve gone white. His soulmates are the people who moved into my apartment. Nononononono, they must just have the same name, it must be a coincidence._

_“It’s crazy that I never met them too, because they also live in this complex, but I guess it was easier to know people when I lived with my dad. Heh.”_   
_Nope, it was confirmed, his soulmates were my technical roommates. Oh dear god. I wanted to curl up in a whole and die, but I couldn’t, because I was already dead. So instead I made a joke, and tried to lie to myself._

_“Ya know what's funny? The people living in my apartment have the exact same names, and all happen to be soulmates, isn’t that funny?”_

_Dee’s face actually did turn white, and then red, and then it went back to normal, and he sighed. “Of course they are.”_

_Yes, of course they were. It was at that moment that I decided I wanted my apartment back to myself, and that I wanted them gone, away from the place, just like how I scared away anyone else from moving in, because, a piece of little known ghost knowledge, if a ghost gets to stay in a certain place, they tend to get territorial, so, little college students, let the games begin._

_Wait what? I didn’t want them to leave? What was happening? I knew ghosts could be territorial, but I had never felt so vicious in my life, or in my afterlife, why did that happen?_

The dreams kept getting weirder.

_“P-Patton, I-” god, I had no idea what to say. I was Patton's soulmate? I didn’t feel any- oh, yeah, I don’t feel heat, and had no reason to check my soulmark, and it was on my back, so checking it would have been difficult._

_“Virgil? Are you ok?” Patton's voice pulled me away from my thoughts._

_“Are you saying that I am your soulmate?” I found myself asking._

_“Who else would I be talking about? Do you see anyone else here?” Patton asked, looking at me confused._

_“B-but how, I’m dead, wait, I guess it makes sense, as I still have a soul, but does that mean I’m everyone else’s soulmate? Does that mean I’m Dee’s soulmate too?”_

_“Yeah, you are, did you really never notice?” Patton asked._

_“I mean, I don’t feel temperature, the way I look doesn’t really change, other than expressions, and even if it did, I had no reason to check, and my mark is on my back, anyways,” I laughed, a little._

_“Aww, kiddo, I’m sorry, have you ever even seen the mark?” Patton asked, his voice very sympathetic._

_“No, I never really had any reason to check, I mean, I knew that when, if, I met my soulmates, that I would feel it, so I had no need to see what it looked like,” I laughed awkwardly._

_“Do you want to see it now?” Patton asked, god, how was it possible for someone to have been so goddamn cute. GOD. He was such a fcking sweetheart, holy sht._

_“Uhm, I guess, but how?” I asked, very curious, as my image hasn’t changed from the moment I died, other than the loss of blood, and it was originally there, I just kinda willed it away._

_“Well, you’ll take your shirt off, and I will take a picture!” Patton chirped._

_“And you are sure that I will show up in this picture?” I asked, “I have never had my picture taken, but, ghosts may be like vampires, not showing up in pictures.”_

_“Uh, I will just make sure now, hold still, and I’ll take a pic,” Patton grabbed his phone, and quickly snapped a photo of me on the couch, “here, look, you do show up!” Patton cheered, and I looked at the phone, there I was, sitting on the couch staring blankly at the camera._

_“Ok, so I will show up in the picture, but how will we get the shirt off, my appearance hasn’t changed since the day I died, other than getting rid of the blood,” I asked._

_“B-blood?” Patton shuddered, “How did you get rid of the blood?”_

_“I just, I don’t know, willed it away?” I answered, sounding a bit unsure, “It made me feel uncomfortable, so I kept on wishing it would go away, and then, one day, it did?”_

_“Well, why don’t you will your shirt off?” Patton asked, I snorted. “Hey, it’s worth a try!”_

_“Fiiinnnee, what am I supposed to do? Imagine myself without a shirt?” I asked._

_“I… guess?” Patton said, sounding as unsure as I felt._

_“Okay then…” I began to imagine myself without a top on, then I felt something very strange, it was a tingly sensation, then Patton gasped._

_“IT WORKED! YES” Patton sounded so excited._

_I opened my eyes, and my shirt was, in fact, gone. “Wow, this is great, now I know how to change my appearance.”_

_“Ok, go ahead and turn around so I can take the picture.”_

_I turned around, and Patton gasped. “Is something wrong?” silence, “Patton?”_

_“Oh, kiddo!” Patton was suddenly crying, “I’m so sorry!”_

_At that, I turned around to look at him. “Patton? What are you sorry for?” I asked, actually curious._

_Then, he showed me the picture. What shocked him in no way shocked me, what shocked me was the large mark that covered almost half of my back, swirling in beautiful blues, reds, and yellows. What shocked him were the three holes in my back from where I was shot. No longer bloody, just holes, the skin sticking out like it was a hole in a balloon._

_“Patton, it’s not your fault, we didn’t know each other, I don’t even think that you lived anywhere near here, there was nothing that you could do.”_

_“I-I know, but I wish that I could have done something, anything, to have stopped you from dying, from going through those awful moments,” Patton was still crying, “knowing that there was no way to help you doesn’t make me feel any less guilty.”_

_“If it’s any consolation, you have already done more than my parents did,” I said, trying to find anything to help comfort my apparent soulmate._

_“W-what do you mean? How could I have possibly done more than your parents?” Patton asked, sounding very concerned._

_“Well, my parents didn’t really accept me for being gay, they kicked me out, and that’s when I moved out into this apartment, I didn’t have enough money to go to college-” I was cut off by a sob._

_“Virgil, I’m so, so, sorry,” Patton sobbed._

_“I’m ok, I didn’t need them, although, it was a bit disappointing for them to not show up to my funeral,” I could feel my eyes watering, god, I was such a baby._

_“Th-they didn’t go to your funeral? Like, at all?” Patton started crying harder, and then the dam broke and I was sobbing too._

_“NO! WHY DIDN’T THEY COME? I know that they didn’t like the fact that I liked guys, but is that really a reason to miss your own child’s funeral?” I couldn't hold back anymore._

_“Y-you said that you could hold a physical form, right? Can you do that right now?” Patton asked, still crying._

_“U-um y-yeah I can t-try,” I replied shakily, my voice refusing to work correctly. I focused on making my body physical, mainly focusing on things I should be able to touch from where I was sitting. The couch, the blanket my leg was resting on, the arm behind me. Eventually, I felt the couch underneath me, I must’ve looked different too, because Patton tackled me into a hug. It felt… nice…_

_We stayed like that, in a hug for a long time, I think I drifted off at some point, because I woke up when I was removed from my comfortable spot with Patton when he got up to answer the door._

So, in this dream, I was Patton, Roman, Logan, and Dee’s soulmate? Were these people real? Or were they just the dream? I had no idea, but I was determined to find out, and so, obviously, I went to the internet. 

What I found on the internet was… strange... It basically told me that I had died before meeting any of my soulmates, and so I was kept on the world of the living to meet them. I then probably met them, and was at some point kissed on the lips, for romantic soulmates, or hugged, for platonic soulmates, and was tested to see if my connection to the world of the living was still strong, if it wasn’t, I would’ve moved on to another life, but as it was, I was thrown into a new life, and now it was my job to find these soulmates again? God, it felt like a fever dream. I decided that what the internet told me was probably bullsht, and to ignore it, but if I happened to see people who were somehow identical to how they were in those strange ass dreams, that I would make an effort to approach them.

And that is how my brand new life pretty much flipped on its head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter in the book "Taking 'Soulmates' To a Whole New Level" This book was really fun to write, and you can all look forward to the next book called... idk yet, but it will be a continuation of this book, and it will be about how they found each other again, what happens after they find each other again, and all the wacky stuff that just barely keeps them from finding each other again. This story really was a journey, and it was amazingly fun to write, and just as fun to interact with all of you. I am very glad that you all enjoyed this bull enough to read it all the way through, and I know that this chapter literally had like 3 copy pasted already written chapters, but it was the easiest way to make the dream sequence with out having to rewrite the exact same chapters, but use different wording. I KNOW IT WAS LAZY BUT DEAL WITH IT.


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